SpaceX launched a big batch of OneWeb internet satellites into orbit Thursday evening (December 8) in a mission supporting a megaconstellation competitor after OneWeb’s own launch plans were derailed by the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 40 OneWeb satellites launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida at 5:27 p.m. EST (2227 GMT) on Thursday, climbing into orbit in a dazzling sunset liftoff. Ground cameras captured stunning views of Falcon 9 as it separated from its first stage, then returned to Earth to make a precise landing on a SpaceX pad at nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“We just received confirmation of a nominal orbital insertion,” SpaceX propulsion engineer Youmei Zhou said shortly after landing during a live launch commentary.
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The Falcon 9 first-stage landing was SpaceX’s 145th successful rocket recovery and fourth launch and landing for that particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. (opens in a new tab). It previously launched a SpaceX Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA in December 2021, Eutelsat’s Hotbird 13F spacecraft last October, and a batch of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites.
The Falcon 9 upper stage, meanwhile, continued to carry the OneWeb satellites into orbit.
“We have liftoff! Our 40 satellites have left the ground in Florida,” announced OneWeb by Twitter (opens in a new tab) after launch. “Thank you to our colleagues at @SpaceX for a successful liftoff.”
The Falcon 9 deployed the spacecraft as planned (opens in a new tab) in three roughly even sets, starting 58 minutes after launch and ending 30 minutes after.
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OneWeb is building a broadband constellation of 648 satellites in low Earth orbit, which will to some degree compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. More than 460 OneWeb spacecraft had reached orbit before today’s flight, the vast majority of them atop Russian-made Soyuz rockets operated by French company Arianespace.
That arrangement fell apart after Russia invaded Ukraine in February, leaving a launch void for OneWeb. The company quickly fulfilled it, striking deals with SpaceX and New Space India Limited (NSIL). (The terms of those contracts were not disclosed.)
The first liftoff under the NSIL agreement took place on October 21, when an Indian GSLV Mark III rocket successfully lifted 36 OneWeb spacecraft. Thursday’s launch marked SpaceX’s first OneWeb mission. It was also OneWeb’s first launch from Florida and meant that OneWeb now had more than 500 satellites in orbit.
Thursday’s liftoff was scheduled for Tuesday (December 6), but SpaceX pushed it back to do more checks (opens in a new tab) — something Elon Musk’s company recently did with several of its Falcon 9 rockets. It was SpaceX’s 55th launch in 2022.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 6:00 PM EST to note the successful liftoff of the OneWeb mission by SpaceX. An earlier version of this story misidentified the SpaceX launch commentator. This is Youmei Zhou, propulsion engineer from SpaceX. The story was updated again at 9:35 p.m. EST with news of the satellite’s successful deployment.
Mike Wall is the author of “The low (opens in a new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) Or on Facebook (opens in a new tab).
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