SpaceX at Cape Canaveral, Florida SLC-40 launch site with a “14 hands” Falcon 9 (B1051.14) for the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (Intelsat) launched Galaxy 31. The satellites Galaxy 31 and 32 were separated 38 minutes and 41 seconds after the launch after 2 upper stage activations.
As you can see in the picture and in the video, SpaceX used an expendable launch method for this Falcon 9, with no landing leg and no rudder on the rocket. According to the report, this was due to customer requests and additional costs, and the decision not to recover the first stage booster for this mission.
According to Froeliger, the two satellite stacks weighed about 14,500 pounds or 6.6 metric tons and required the rocket to fully release thrust during liftoff (the nine main engines generated 1.7 million pounds of thrust in a little more than two and a half minutes).
The booster debuted on March 2, 2019, when it helped NASA conduct the first unmanned test flight mission of the Crew Dragon capsule.
This would be the first time in more than three years that SpaceX has actively not recovered a Falcon 9 core stage, and the follow-on B1049.11 appears to be an expendable launch, with the Eutelsat 10B satellite expected to be launched sometime in November.
The Galaxy 31 and 32 satellites are replacements for Intelsat’s aging satellites in GEO positions over the United States. The two satellites will slowly raise their orbits to geostationary orbit (GEO) operations over the next few months.
The mission was.
185th launch of the Falcon 9 rocket since 2010
194th launch in the Falcon family of rockets since 2006
Falcon 9’s B1051 booster launch for the 14th time
158th launch of Falcon 9 from Florida’s Space Coast
103rd Falcon 9 launch from Launch Pad 40
126th launch of Falcon 9’s reuse booster
SpaceX’s third launch for Intelsat
51st Falcon 9 launch in 2022
SpaceX 52nd launch in 2022
49th orbital launch in 2022 at Cape Canaveral
