Edhat Staff
By the edhat staff
On Tuesday, May 30 at 11:02 p.m., SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 52 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base.
This was the fourteenth launch and landing for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, and now five Starlink missions.
“Starlink satellites are equipped with optical space lasers (pew pew), which allow us to provide truly global coverage and serve customers in the most remote locations on Earth,” SpaceX stated.
Photo: SpaceX
Watch a video of the launch below:
It’s not the biggest deal in the world, but… I do wish they’d launch only during regular hours. Sleep disturbances on a widespread scale affecting large swathes of the population (e.g., daylight saving time switches, etc.) are statistically proven to increase car accident, heart attack, and mortality rates. Yes, not everyone is on the same schedule, but the majority of people are.
It’s not like they schedule these launches at certain times just to annoy people. There’s that little matter of orbital dynamics involved in achieving precise orbits. It’s kinda like rocket science.
1:30 – LOL exactly. My kid last night asked why they launched so late and I said it probably had to do with weather, orbit, etc…. so she replies, “So, space stuff basically?” Yup, “space stuff.”
Oh I’m quite aware of how and why these launches are scheduled. I also think a private company should take into account the disruption of hundreds of thousands of people when they choose launch times. These aren’t once-in-a-lifetime launch windows, a few days delay wouldn’t be so difficult to accommodate. It shouldn’t all be about the $$$
Disruption of hundreds of thousands of people? That’s quite the exaggeration. Unless you live right near Vandenburg, the noise is nothing a white noise machine wouldn’t cover up while you sleep.
I’m not especially bothered by it, but the deep, heavy, window-rattling sonic booms are not easily covered by anything.
Anyway, it’s a small price to pay so rich glampers and yacht owners don’t have to be without Internet access when they’re escaping civilization, right? 😉
The sound lasts about 2 minutes. Reminds me of airport complaints about the “noise” – a few seconds of a plane flying by every couple hours. Cities have sounds.
Orvgull :
There is NO sonic boom on the way up.
The only time you’ll hear a sonic boom is if and when the rocket returns to VSF base rather than on the drone ship which is hundreds of miles off-shore.
That was the case with Tuesday’s launch : NO sonic boom.
But it’s always “nice” to complain, right ?
Um, nope.
Lots of sonic booms on the way up.
Anything moving faster than about 750 mph will generate a sonic boom, and multiple booms may be produced by any projecting aerodynamic element of the moving object that enhances the shock, like a fin. The shock wave of the boom will propagate outward in a conical shape that is steeper as the speed increases. In an area right under the rocket launch, you wouldn’t hear it, but where the shock cone reaches the ground you’ll hear it.
I wonder how much louder these will get when they start launching the massive Starship boosters from Vandenberg? Are we going to be replacing broken windows?
I recently drove by the base and had a good belly laugh at the SPACE FORCE sign/name again. Space supah-heroes, here to conquer space and beyond! Such a silly name.
@2:05 as I recall space x is letting multiple governments use starlink for free costing them 80 to 100 million dollars. Plus twitter is worth 33% of what musk paid for it to restore free speech on that platform. So I don’t think it’s all about money when it comes to launch times lol.
You misspelled hate as free.