SpaceX Falcon 9 Showcases Dramatic Sunset Skies, Boosting 2 Intelsat Satellites Into Orbit

Two days late after back-to-back scrubs, SpaceX launched a pair of Intelsat communications satellites from Cape Canaveral on Saturday night in the company’s third Falcon 9 launch in as many days. It followed two flights on Wednesday, one from each coast, just seven hours apart.

Using a first stage performing its 14th flight — the largest yet for a non-SpaceX commercial customer — the latest Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:05 p.m. EDT and sped away on a due-east trajectory over the Atlantic Ocean.

After dropping the well-used first stage for recovery onto a SpaceX landing barge, the rocket’s upper stage blasted the two-satellite payload out of the perceptible atmosphere and released them into elliptical orbits of ” transfer”, as planned, about 40 minutes after launch.

Spectacular video from the SpaceX drone – waiting for the first stage several hundred miles out in the Atlantic Ocean – showed the rocket’s second-stage exhaust plume expanding dramatically into the low-pressure upper atmosphere, eye-catching best seen when backlit at dawn or sunset.

Area residents, tourists and photographers, both amateurs and professionals, tweeted equally spectacular views of the rocket, silhouetted against the rising full moon as it cruised into orbit.

“Captured Falcon 9 with Intelsat Galaxy 33 & 34 transiting the full moon of the hunter tonight from the waters of the Indian River in Florida,” tweeted photographer Trevor Mahlmann.

Either way, with a successful launch behind them, Intelsat’s Galaxy 33 and 34 satellites will use onboard propulsion to raise the low and high points of their orbits until they both reach “geosynchronous” circular altitudes. “, 22,300 miles above the equator, in direct line of sight to North America.

The satellites are the latest a drive mandated by the FCC to free up space in radio spectrum for 5G mobile networks, requiring new satellites to replace lost capacity. The Galaxy 33 and 34 will be used by a variety of major media including HBO, the Disney Channel, Starz and the Discovery Channel.

“They are part of a purchase of seven satellites that we made in 2020 to replace some of our Galaxy satellites,” Jean-Luc Froeliger, senior vice president of space systems at Intelsat, told Spaceflight Now.

“Galaxy” is a brand name for Intelsat base stations serving North America. The new satellites are being launched in pairs, with four more flights scheduled before the end of the year. This includes two from Cape Canaveral, Florida, using another Falcon 9, and two from French Guiana, using a European Ariane rocket.

The seventh Galaxy is heavier than the others and will launch on its own in the first half of 2023.