SpaceX Starlink Launch & Crew-4 Falcon | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

SpaceX Starlink Launch & Crew-4 Falcon | NASA's Kennedy Space Center

On Thursday, April 21, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 53 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the 12th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, and now nine Starlink missions. Meanwhile, another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is vertical with the company’s Crew Dragon atop for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-4 mission at Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watson, along with European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, will launch aboard Dragon, named Freedom by the Crew-4 crew, atop the Falcon 9 to the International Space Station (ISS). Launch is targeted for this week. The astronauts will conduct scientific research in areas such as materials science, health technologies, and plant science to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.

Image Credit: SpaceX

Image Date: April 21, 2022

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