SpaceX Launches Coast-to-Coast Tripleheader

On October 1st, SpaceX launched three rockets in about 13 hours from Florida and California. The flights consisted of a crew mission, a commercial rideshare, and a national-security payload.

The first launch was Crew-13:

At 11:10 a.m. EDT, a Falcon 9 lifted off from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. It carried Crew Dragon Grace with NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins as commander, NASA astronaut Luke Delaney as pilot, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk as mission specialist, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov as mission specialist. Watkins was making her second flight. It was the first spaceflight for the other three. Shortly after launch, the Falcon 9 first stage made a landing at LZ-40 back at the Cape. After being propelled to orbit, the spacecraft later rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station just 7 hours after launch. 

Photo Credit: Gavin R. for Launch Heaven

The second launch was Transporter-18:

At 11:32 a.m. PDT, a Falcon 9 lifted off from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. It carried roughly 130 small satellites on a dedicated rideshare to sun-synchronous orbit, including dozens booked through Exolaunch. Booster B1082, flying for the 25th time, landed at LZ-4 shortly after liftoff.

Photo Credit: SpaceX

The third and final launch was NROL-97:

At 11:53 p.m. EDT, a Falcon Heavy rocket lifted off from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It carried a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Side boosters B1072 and B1104 landed at LZ-2 and LZ-1 shortly after launch. The center core was expended, which is typical when the mission needs more performance. This was the first NRO mission to fly on a Falcon Heavy, and it is part of the Space Force’s Phase 3 Lane 2 launch contract.

Photo Credit: Isak C. for Launch Heaven