On the West Coast, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket from the Vandenberg space base in California, USA, at 1912 GMT on 17 February. The rocket was carrying 51 Starlink satellites. The B1063 first stage landed on the drone barge “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Pacific.
Starlink Group 2-5 is launched from Vandenberg on a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5. Courtesy: SpaceX
On the East Coast, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA at 0359 GMT on 18 February. The vehicle carried Inmarsat 6-F2 (aka I-6 F2), a geostationary communications satellite, which it injected into a super-synchronous (one with a higher apogee than normal – 41,600 km vs 36,000 km – to later help reduce 27 degree inclination) Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The satellite itself will use its own propulsion to circularise the orbit and remove the inclination to finish up in a Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO). The B1077 first stage, on its third flight, landed on the drone barge “Just Read the Instructions” located downrange in the Atlantic.
Nine Falcon 9 Merlin engines blast Inmarsat 6-F2 into orbit. Courtesy: SpaceX
Jonathan Freeman contributed to this report
