After effectively sending another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites into orbit Monday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, SpaceX seems to have missed the arrival of its Falcon 9 first stage supporter for the first time in a year.
On the live stream of the mission, a flash is seen just to the side of the droneship right now the supporter ought to land, albeit no rocket at any point enters the frame.
SpaceX has not yet affirmed the destiny of the Falcon 9, however it appears to be likely it crashed in the ocean. Simultaneously, it seems to have saved three seagulls that were hanging out on the landing pad and may never see how close they came to being barbecued.
The Falcon 9 itself had a nice life, finishing six launches effectively, yet just five arrivals in its career.
The evident hard water landing comes precisely a year after something very similar occurred toward the finish of a prior Starlink mission on Feb. 17, 2020. Each landing attempt in between has been successful (for Falcon 9, that is. Definitely not including Starship testing in Texas).
Following up, SpaceX has just somewhat more than 24 hours before its next Starlink flight. The 20th batch of satellites is set to launch from the adjacent Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday at 9:55 p.m. PT (12:55 a.m. Wednesday ET).
The organization had planned to launch two batches of Starlinks from Florida within hours of one another previous this month, yet one of these missions was delayed. (That launch is currently planned for Tuesday night.)
These launches and the droneship landings that follow them are becoming pretty routine for SpaceX, however Musk might want to see the speed of launches increment. The permit from the FCC for Starlink to work requires that at least 2,212 of its satellites be operational by March of one year from now.
Up until now, more than 1,000 of the small satellites have been shipped off space, yet it’s not satisfactory the number of those are as of now operational. In any case, doubtlessly if SpaceX can pull off at least two Starlink launches each month, it ought to have the option to hit its objective.
Just two Starlink missions have been flown so far in 2021, yet the organization can rapidly get up to speed on the off chance that it nails the two missions this week.
Obviously, these launches have been known to slip.