update: Soyuz successfully launched OneWeb satellites at 7:26 am EST. You can watch their implementation in the next 3 hours here.
European launch provider Arianespace will use a Soyuz rocket on Friday (December 18th) to launch 36 satellites for the OneWeb constellation via satellite-internet. The mission, called OneWeb 4, is scheduled to depart from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Siberia at 7:26 AM EST (1226 GMT).
You can watch the launch live in the window above, courtesy of Arianespace or directly through the company’s YouTube channel. The live broadcast of Arianespace with comments will begin approximately 30 minutes before takeoff.
Related: OneWeb launches new global satellite internet constellation (photos)
This 53rd Soyuz mission led by Arianespace and its subsidiary Starsem will be operated from Vostochny Cosmodrome and represents the fourth launch of OneWeb as a whole and the third for this year.
This mission will deliver 36 satellites into orbit, bringing the total fleet to 110 satellites in low Earth orbit.
Operating this fourth flight on behalf of OneWeb, Arianespace participates in fulfilling its customers’ ultimate ambition: to provide internet access for everyone, anywhere, anytime.
Flight ST29 will be operated from the Soyuz launch complex in Vostochny, Russia.
Flight ST29, the first commercial mission to Vostochny Cosmodrome by Arianespace and its subsidiary Starsem, will put 36 of OneWeb’s satellites in an almost polar orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers. After separation, the satellites will rise into their operational orbit.
The first six OneWeb satellites were successfully launched by Arianespace on Soyuz Flight VS21 in French Guiana on February 27, 2019. On February 7, 2020, Arianespace and its subsidiary Starsem successfully launched 34 OneWeb satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Soyuz Flight ST27. On March 21, 2020, the team successfully delivered another 34 satellites in orbit on the Soyuz Flight ST28.
OneWeb’s mission is to bring the Internet everywhere for everyone, by creating a global connectivity platform through a next-generation satellite constellation in low Earth orbit. The OneWeb constellation will provide high-speed, low-latency connectivity services to a wide range of customer sectors, including aviation, maritime, backhaul and government services, emergency response services and more.
Essential to its purpose, OneWeb seeks to bring connectivity wherever fiber cannot reach and thus reduce the digital divide.
Once implemented, the OneWeb constellation will allow user terminals capable of providing 3G, LTE, 5G and Wi-Fi coverage, providing high-speed access globally – by air, sea and land.
OneWeb Satellites is a partnership between OneWeb and Airbus Defense and Space, where OneWeb Satellites is the constellation’s main contractor. The satellites were built thanks to its state-of-the-art satellite manufacturing process, which can build up to two satellites per day on a series production line dedicated to satellite assembly, integration and testing. Flight ST29 will orbit between satellites 75 and 110 of OneWeb, which will be launched by Arianespace.
Watch live on Saturday at 9:00 ET: SpaceX launches spy satellite NROL-108
To allow extra time for check-out, target now Saturday, December 19, for the launch of Falcon 9 of NROL-108 https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdKDecember 18, 2020
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will make a second attempt to launch the NROL-108 classified spy satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Bureau on Saturday, December 19, after Thursday’s launch attempt was interrupted due to a rocket pressure problem.
Mission NROL-108 is now tentatively scheduled to leave Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a three-hour launch window that opens at 9:00 EST (1400 GMT).
You can watch the launch live in the window above, courtesy of SpaceX or log in via the company’s website. The live broadcast will start approximately 15 minutes before takeoff.
Read more: SpaceX will launch a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Bureau on Friday. Watch it live!
SpaceX is now aiming to launch the NROL-108 mission from the 39A launch complex (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Friday, December 18th. The three-hour Friday launch window opens at 9:00 EST or 14:00 UTC and closes at 12:00 pm EST or 17:00 UTC.
The first amplifier of the Falcon 9 stage previously supported the launch of the 19th and 20th SpaceX cargo supply missions to the International Space Station, a Starlink mission and the SAOCOM 1B mission. After separating the stage, SpaceX will land the first stage of Falcon 9 on Landing Area 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
“ISS Live!” Connect to the space station
Find out what astronauts and cosmonauts are doing aboard the International Space Station by giving you the “ISS Live” show. Listen to the conversations between the crew and the mission controllers on Earth and watch them work in the US segment of the orbiting laboratory. When the crew is out of service, you can enjoy live views of Earth from space. You can watch and listen in the window below, courtesy of NASA.
“The live video from the International Space Station includes internal views when the crew is on duty and views of the Earth at other times. The video is accompanied by the sound of conversations between the crew and Mission Control. This video is only available when the space station is in contact with the ground. During periods of “signal loss”, viewers will see a blue screen.
“Because the station orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, it faces sunrise or sunset every 45 minutes. When the station is in the dark, the external video camera may look black, but sometimes it can offer spectacular views of lightning or city lights below. ”
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