SpaceX launches heaviest payload on reused rocket's 9th flight
Space
1/26/2023
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House passes GOP's Parents Bill of Rights Act; Dem. Jeffries calls it a 'book ban' The Parents Bill of Rights Act passed the Republican-led House, as Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the legislation a "book ban."
USA TODAY
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U.S. launches retaliatory strikes on Iran-backed facilities in Syria The U.S. conducted airstrikes in Syria against what it said were Iranian-affiliated facilities after a suspected Iranian-made drone on Thursday struck a facility housing U.S. personnel in the country, killing an American contractor and wounding five U.S. service members and another U.S. contractor. Eleni Giokos breaks it down with analysis from CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson and CNN National Security Reporter Natasha Bertrand from the Pentagon. CNN
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John Kirby: Biden ‘acted swiftly’ to retaliate against 'Iranian one-way drone attack' White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby joins Andrea Mitchell to weigh in on the conflict between the United States and Iranian backed groups in Syria following attacks on a coalition base, killing an American contractor and injuring six other Americans, from an Iranian suicide drone. “The President acted swiftly and quickly to retaliate against this strike and to send a strong message to Iran that this is unacceptable, and we're going to do what we have to do to protect our people and our facilities there,” says Kirby. “It's pretty clear to us and to the intelligence community and to the Pentagon that this was no kidding, an Iranian one-way drone attack. We've been able to identify that with certainty.” MSNBC
SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket lifted its heaviest payload ever into low Earth orbit on Thursday morning (Jan. 26), launching 56 new Starlink internet-beaming satellites.
The Falcon 9 first-stage booster that propelled the mission during its ascent through Earth's atmosphere had been used eight times previously, including on two crewed missions to the International Space Station (Crew 3 and Crew 4, which launched in November 2021 and April 2022 respectively).
The 56 Starlink satellites, weighing a combined 17.4 metric tonnes (19.4 tons), according to a SpaceX commentator, were protected by a five times reused fairing during the ascent.
Related: 10 weird things about SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites
The rocket lifted off smoothly from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after a ten-minute delay at 4:32 a.m. EST (0922 GMT).
The first stage separated about 2 minutes and 30 seconds after lift-off and commenced its controlled descent back to Earth. The veteran first stage stuck its landing faultlessly about eight minutes and 40 seconds after lift-off when it touched down on SpaceX's drone ship 'Just Read the Instructions' off the Florida coast.
© SpaceX
The Falcon 9 rocket has launched its heaviest payload yet.
The two fairing halves, one on its fifth and the other on the sixth flight, dropped off from the upper-stage nose cone shortly after the first stage's separation and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX said in the webstream it intended to recover the fairing for further reuse.
About 55 minutes after lift-off, SpaceX confirmed on Twitter that the satellites were successfully released into orbit.
The launch will add yet more satellites to SpaceX's giant Starlink constellation, which provides internet service to customers around the world.
Starlink already consists of more than 3,400 operational satellites, and that eye-popping number will continue to grow far into the future. Elon Musk's company already has permission to loft 12,000 Starlink spacecraft, and it has applied for approval to deploy nearly 30,000 more satellites on top of that.
Thursday's launch wias the sixth of 2023 already for SpaceX and the company's 205th overall. If the company keeps up this cadence — a big if, given that it's still only January — it will break its single-year launch record of 61, which it set in 2022.
Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
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