The target for SpaceX: Saturday, May 15, for the company’s follow-up Starlink mission, with the smallsats nestled aboard a Falcon 9 launch vehicle that lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
On board this mission are 52 Starlink satellites, a Capella Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, and Tyvak-0130, an optical spectrum astronomy observation satellite.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster that supports this mission previously launched NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and three Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of this mission’s Falcon 9’s fairing previously supported the SXM-7 mission, and the other half previously supported the NROL-108 mission.
