Watch the Launch

Additional Media

SpaceX

SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.

SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography)

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Earth Science

Low Earth Orbit Space Launch Complex 4E Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA Probability: 100%
B1071 - Landing Zone 4

Satellite altimeter jointly developed by NASA and CNES, the French space agency, in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and UK Space Agency (UKSA) designed to make the first global survey of the Earth's surface water, to observe the fine details of the ocean surface topography, and to measure how terrestrial surface water bodies change over time.

Telemetry

Launch trajectory and telemetry simulations provided by Flight Club - a rocket launch simulator and orbital trajectory visualiser for all things space!

Updates

SwGustav • Dec. 16, 2022, 1:16 p.m.

Good deployment and AOS confirmed, successful launch


SwGustav • Dec. 16, 2022, 11:47 a.m.

Liftoff


SwGustav • Dec. 16, 2022, 11:02 a.m.

Coverage live


Cosmic_Penguin • Dec. 15, 2022, 3:11 a.m.

NET December 16


Nosu • Dec. 14, 2022, 8:49 p.m.

Weather 100%


Falcon 9

Family:
Configuration: Block 5

Falcon 9 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

See Details
Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    1
  • Max Stage
    2
  • Length
    70.0 m
  • Diameter
    3.65 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    5.2 m
  • Launch Mass
    549.0 T
  • Thrust
    7607.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Falcon 9
  • Family
  • Variant
    Block 5
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Falcon 9 Block 5
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $52000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    22800.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    8300.0 kg
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Booster Info


B1071

Status: Active


Type: Core
Flight Proven: Yes
First Flight: February 2, 2022
Last Flight: December 21, 2024
Flights: 21
Landings Attempted: 21
Landings Successful: 21
Previous B1071 Flights

Landing Information

The Falcon 9 booster has successfully landed back at the launch site after this flight.

Result: Successful Return to Launch Site landing at Landing Zone 4.

SpaceX

SpaceX

(SpX)

CEO: Elon Musk Founded: 2002 Successes: 434 Failures: 12 Pending: 112

Agency Type:

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.

INFO WIKI

Related News

NASA

International SWOT Satellite Spots Planet-Rumbling Greenland Tsunami

Data from space shows water tilting up toward the north side of the Dickson Fjord as it sloshed from south to north and back every 90 seconds for nine days after a 2023 rockslide. The international Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT)…

SpaceNews

Scientists praise performance of first global survey of surface water

Researchers often spend months fine-tuning algorithms to improve data quality. For SWOT’s Ka-band Radar Interferometer, known as KaRin, ocean observations were clear immediately.

The Launch Pad

NASA's SWOT Spacecraft Resumes Operations After Primary Instrument Shutdown

NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite has resumed its commissioning activities after the main scientific instrument, the Ka-band Radar Interferometer (KaRIn), was shut off in late January. According to a press release …

The Launch Pad

NASA's SWOT Satellite Main Instrument Offline

NASA's Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft's main instrument as unexpectedly gone offline during commissioning.

Teslarati

SpaceX aces three Falcon 9 launches in 34 hours

SpaceX has successfully launched three Falcon 9 rockets less than 34 hours apart, leaving the company only one mission shy of CEO...

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Space Launch Complex 4E


Soyuz 2.1b
Success
21 hours, 57 minutes ago
Resurs-P No.5
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Resurs-P is a series of Russian commercial Earth observation satellites capable of acquiring high-resolution imagery (resolution up to 1.0 m).


Falcon 9
Success
3 days ago
Starlink Group 12-2
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
4 days, 15 hours ago
StriX Launch 6
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellites for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 18 hours ago
Bandwagon 2 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Long March 3
Success
5 days, 14 hours ago
TJSW-12
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Ceres-1S
Success
6 days, 19 hours ago
Tianqi 33-36
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.


KAIROS
Failure
1 week, 1 day ago
Flight 2
Space One Launch Pad - Spaceport Kii, Japan

Second flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle. 5 satellites for testing various technologies will be on board: * TATARA-1 * PARUS-T1A * SC-Sat1…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
O3b mPower 7 & 8
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Seventh and eighth of a constellation of eleven high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
NROL-149
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Sixth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
GPS III SV07 (RRT-1)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

GPS-III (Global Positioning System) is the first evolution stage of the third generation of the GPS satellites. It consists of the first ten (known a…