Month: April 2023

Dramatic view of fairing half re-entry

Fairing reentry on the ViaSat-3 mission was the hottest and fastest we've ever attempted. The fairings re-entered the atmosphere greater than 15x the speed of sound, creating a large trail of plasma in its wake pic.twitter.com/VgdlH6r3yR

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 2, 2023

Nice vid, especially of a fairing half flashing past @36sec

Stage separation at sunset, followed by second stage engine startup, and payload fairing deploy pic.twitter.com/QOecwdHx4s

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 2, 2023

Three launches

Falcon Heavy (Viasat) Great night-launch video but no booster landings

Falcon9 (Starlink) Nice vid climbing out of the Vandenberg ground fog

Falcon9 (O3b Mpower) Textbook

Nature reminds everybody who’s boss

Last night’s storm in Florida produced hail, tornadoes, and lightning. Following this strike on the tower at 39A, teams performed additional checkouts of Falcon Heavy, the payloads, and ground support equipment pic.twitter.com/GZwCARaZTx

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 28, 2023

Nifty view of the Starship ascent/destruct from an airliner:

Launch to Self-Destruct Command
• Short overview
• Overview
• Analysis 1
• Analysis 2
• Review with flight test history
• Launch pad debris