After several delays, a final one involving a cruise ship straying into the danger zone, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 launch vehicle from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, USA, at 2311 GMT on 31 January 2022. The vehicle was carrying the COSMO-Skymed Second Generation 2 (CSG 2) satellite which will be used to provide Synthetic Aperture Radar imagery as part of a planned four satellite constellation replacing the old COSMO-Skymed constellation. The Falcon 9 launch vehicle’s first stage, B1052, made a successful landing nine minutes after launch back at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The stage had flown twice before as booster elements on two flights of the Falcon Heavy. Given the satellite’s planned near polar sun-synchronous orbit, the flight’s trajectory used another unusual southward heading track.
Falcon 9 launches Cosmo-Skymed Second Generation FM2 Courtesy: SpaceX
David Todd contributed to this story.
