SpaceX completed three successful launches within less than 48 hours
On June 19th, SpaceX achieved three successful launches in less than 48 hours. These launches take place as the organization is going through a period of transition, with staff writing open letters. Falcon 9 was the first of these launches, which took place on June 17th. The rocket took off from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. At 12:09 p.m. Eastern, 53 Starlink satellites were launched into orbit for the first time. With this launch, the rocket used in the mission completed its 13th flight. The launch also set a new record for the number of times the booster was reused.
Furthermore, the second launch occurred on June 18th at 10:19 a.m. from Space Launch Complex 4E. It is located in California, at the Vandenberg Space Force Base. The SARah-e radar imaging satellites are launched into orbit by the Falcon 9 rocket. Airbus manufactured the satellite for the German military as a replacement for the existing SAR-Lupe system. Due to its ties to the German military, this launch was subject to limitations. Finally, on June 19th at 12:27 a.m., Space Launch Complex 40 launched the third rocket. It is located in Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch’s payload has been designated as Globalstar FM15. It’s a space satellite for Globalstar, a law Earth Orbit satellite operator.
Observers were led to believe that Globalstar FM15 was not the only payload on the launch by several elements of the operation. Even though the Globalstar satellite alone, weighing around 700 kilograms, was tiny enough to allow a landing return at the launch site, the upper stage performed a unique series of three burns, and the first stage landed on a drone ship. After the fairing separation, SpaceX did not offer a video of the cargo but did after the second burn. Not only did those views reveal the Globalstar satellite, but they also revealed what seemed to be a payload adaptor. This could indicate that the rocket contained one or more payloads that were launched after the upper stage’s initial burn. However, it’s possible that the launch was planned to carry additional payloads but was instead launched without them.
Globalstar gave limited specifics concerning the mission’s own satellite. The corporation did not make any prior announcements about the launch. Globalstar’s chief executive, Dave Kagan, said in a statement following the company’s quarterly earnings release on May 5 that the ground spare would be launched “in the coming months” and would “ensure continuity of service to all of our existing and future subscribers as well as other users of the network,” along with plans for a new set of satellites ordered earlier this year.
