Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 achieves Bahamas booster landing; Electron flies
60th mission

Date:
Mon, 17 Feb 2025 16:58:23 +0000

Description:
Three Falcon 9 Starlink missions and a Rocket Lab Electron launch from New Zealand made The post Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 achieves Bahamas booster landing; Electron flies 60th mission appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================Three Falcon 9 Starlink missions and a Rocket Lab Electron launch from New Zealand made up the launch manifest for this week. The first Starlink flight of the week saw a Falcon booster land within Bahamian waters for the first time, while Electrons launch marked the 60th flight of the rocket since its first flight in 2017.

China launched a communications satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit atop a Chang Zheng (Long March) 3B/E.



Electron | BlackSky Gen-3 Mission 1

The 60th mission of Rocket Labs Electron is titled Fasten Your Space Belts launched on Tuesday, Feb.18, at 23:17 UTC. Electron flew from Rocket Labs Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B) at the Mhia Peninsula in New Zealand, taking a southeasterly trajectory to LEO.

BlackSky Technology contracted Rocket Lab to launch a constellation of five next-generation Gen-3 Earth-imaging satellites. These new satellites provide new imaging capabilities and multiple new sensors. BlackSky claims that the Gen-3 constellation will offer mission-critical insights using very high-resolution, rapid-revisit 35-centimeter imagery. These are enhanced with AI-enabled analytics delivered at industry-leading speed and scale, combining high-resolution imagery with high-frequency monitoring. LAUNCH! Rocket Lab Electron with its 60th mission https://t.co/RsEbcVfwZO pic.twitter.com/UGv012Pr8E

NSF NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) February 18, 2025



Electron is a two stage rocket with an additional kick stage. The first stage features nine Rutherford sea-level engines, each producing 21 kN of thrust at liftoff and peaking at 25 kN (5,600 lbf) in flight. The second stage includes a Rutherford vacuum engine that produces 25.8 kN (5,800 lbf) of thrust. Both variants of Rutherford are powered by electric pumps instead of traditional gas turbines. The kick stage utilizes an unspecified bi-propellant fuel-powered Curie engine. Both the Rutherford and Curie engines are largely 3D-printed, and the two main stages are of a carbon-composite construction.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 10-12

A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted 23 Starlink v2 Mini satellites to low-Earth orbit (LEO) on Tuesday, Feb. 18, at 6:21 PM EST (23:21 UTC). The Starlink Group 10-12 mission launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) in Florida. Falcon 9 flew on a southeasterly trajectory from the Cape to place the Starlinks into a
53-degree inclination orbit.

Following launch, booster B1080 separated from the second stage and descend
to land on SpaceXs autonomous droneship Just Read The Instructions , which
was stationed within Bahamian waters following an agreement with Bahamian authorities . The sheltered, calmer waters near the island of Exuma will
allow more reliable landing conditions than those previously experienced in the more turbulent open seas of the Atlantic. The new landing site will also enable SpaceX to fly new trajectories out of the Cape. The booster and droneship will return to Port Canaveral for the first landings in this
region, as with all previous Atlantic landings. B1080 lands on Just Read the Instructions, and for the first time, in the Bahamas. https://t.co/u5JhTsDd6S pic.twitter.com/6J5Rii8Txa

NSF NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) February 18, 2025



This was the 16th flight for B1080, which previously flew the Axiom Mission
2, Euclid, Starlink Group 6-11, Starlink Group 6-24, Axiom Mission 3, CRS-30, Starlink Group 6-52, Starlink Group 6-62, Astra 1P/SES-24, CRS-21, Starlink Group 10-10, Starlink Group 6-69, Starlink Group 12-1, Starlink Group 12-2, and Starlink Group 12-4 missions. B1080 first flew on May 21, 2023; Starlink Group 10-12 was its second mission of 2025.

SpaceXs workhorse Falcon 9 is a 3.9-meter diameter, 70-meter-tall two stage rocket. Nine Merlin 1D engines power the first stage booster, with the second stage utilizing a single vacuum-optimized Merlin engine. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are the first and only reusable orbital rockets in operational service today, with one Falcon booster (B1067) having flown 26 flights. The two payload fairings at the top of the rocket are also recovered and reused after flights.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-14

The second Starlink launch of the week launched from SLC-40 at the CCSFS on Friday, Feb. 20, at 10:19 AM EST (15:19 UTC). SpaceXs east coast Starlink missions will fly from SLC-40 for the next two weeks, as Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) is being prepared for the launch of the Intuitive Machines-2 (IM-2) mission to the Moon. Liftoff was delayed towards the end of the four-hour launch window, likely due to wind conditions at the launch site, which eased towards the T-0.

The booster, B1076, flew on a southeasterly trajectory to place a batch of 10 Starlink v2 Mini and 13 Starlink Direct-to-Cell satellites into LEO, at a 43-degree inclination. The droneship supporting this mission was A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, northeast of The Bahamas.

Booster B1076 was flying its 21st mission after only a 25-day turnaround. First flown on Nov. 26, 2022, B1076 has previously flown one CRS mission, eight other customer missions, and 11 Starlink Groups. This was the boosters second flight of 2025.

Chang Zheng 3B/E | ChinaSat-10R A Chinese Chang Zheng (CZ) 3B/E lifted off from pad LC-3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China on Saturday , Feb. 22, at 12:10 UTC.

The rocket deployed the Zhongxing-10R communication satellite, also known as ChinaSat-10R, into a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite operates in the Ku-band and will replace the aging ChinaSat-10, which is now one year shy of its planned 15 year operational lifespan.

The CZ 3B rocket has three stages and stands at a height of 56.3 m.

Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 15-1

The Starlink Group 15-1 mission flew from SpaceXs west coast launch facility at Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff occurred on Saturday, Feb. 22, at 5:38 PM PST (01:38 on Sunday, Feb. 23, UTC). LAUNCH! Falcon 9 B1082-11 launches Starlink Group 15-1 from SLC-4E.

Overview: https://t.co/kT7opQtW8K https://t.co/vBDd7PyaqA pic.twitter.com/EaNLn0Emtp

NSF NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) February 23, 2025



Falcon 9 flew on a southeasterly trajectory to place the payload of 22 Starlink v2 Mini satellites into LEO. The booster, B1082, landed successfully on SpaceXs west coast droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed approximately 640 km downrange in the Pacific.

Booster B1082 was making its second flight of 2025 following a 32-day turnaround. This was its eleventh flight in total, having first flown on Jan. 3, 2024. B1082 has previously flown two customer missions, and eight Starlink missions, all from Vandenberg.

SpaceX Falcon 9 | Starlink Group 12-13

The final Falcon 9 Starlink mission of the week was due to launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral SFS in Florida on Monday. Liftoff has now been re-scheduled for Monday, Feb. 24, at 11:26 PM EST (Tuesday, Feb.25, at 04:26 UTC).

The booster supporting this launch has yet to be announced.

The droneship supporting this mission will be Just Read The Instruction s. (Lead image: Falcon 9 launches from the Cape. Credit: Julia Bergeron for NSF
)



The post Launch Roundup: Falcon 9 achieves Bahamas booster landing; Electron flies 60th mission appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .



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Link to news story: https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2025/02/launch-roundup-021725/


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