SpaceX launches two communications satellites in 14th mission

SpaceX launched two communications satellites on Saturday (November 12), tying a rocket reuse record in the process.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Saturday at 11:06 AM ET (1606 GMT) from Space Force Station Cape Canaveral, Florida, to launch Intelsat’s Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 satellites.
This was the 14th mission of the Falcon 9 first stage, tying a SpaceX record. The booster also helped launch his Demo-2, SpaceX’s first astronaut flight, in May 2020. RADARSAT Constellation Mission. SXM-7 spacecraft for SiriusXM. His 10 large batches of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, the company wrote in the mission description, he reported Space.com.
However, there will be no 15th flight for this booster. SpaceX didn’t want to take it down for safe landing and future reuse.
“Today’s payload needed a little more performance than the Falcon 9, so we had to use propellants that we normally use for entry and landing burns to get the payload into orbit,” said SpaceX. space operations engineer Siva Bharadvaj. said during the launch webcast.
Both the Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 were very heavy, and the Falcon 9 carried them into distant geostationary transfer orbits. Did.
The two will help Intelsat update its telecom equipment, the company said on its Web site. Intelsat officials say high-speed satellites represent a “new generation of technology” for customers, including primarily television broadcasters.
The Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 will replace older satellites focused on North America in geostationary orbit.
Saturday’s launch was the second Intelsat mission in just over a month for SpaceX, which launched its Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34 satellites using Falcon 9 on October 8. This was also his 14th mission of that rocket’s first stage.
At the time, Intelsat officials said the two Galaxy satellites would offer new capabilities in the C-band, a radio frequency range that the Galaxy 31 and 32 also use.
Saturday’s launch was SpaceX’s 52nd overall for 2022, adding to the company’s one-year growth record (which was 31 in 2021). It was also his 48th flight this year using the previously flown Falcon 9 rocket.
Most of SpaceX’s 2022 launches helped grow the company’s massive Starlink satellite internet constellation. But SpaceX has launched other companies’ satellites into orbit, as well as cargo and crew missions to the International Space Station with Falcon 9 in 2022.
Additionally, SpaceX flew the Falcon Heavy on November 1st. The mission lifted a U.S. Space Force payload and was the first flight of a powerful rocket since June 2019.