SpaceX Rideshare Mission 5 [Live: 25.05.2022, 18:26 UTC] + Return to Land

SpaceX is sending a rideshare mission for smallsats (Transporter 5) into a sun-synchronous orbit. There are 59 different payloads from various customers.

The booster is on its 8th mission and will return to Landing Zone 1, instead of landing out at sea, on a barge.

Two interesting projects on this flight:

• Nanoracks is launching an experiment about metal cutting in a vacuum - without gravity. The goal is to cut with minimal debris.
• a Selfiesat. Students from Norway built a satellite with an extending selfie camera, out of freely available components.

Starliner

Boeing Starliner has undocked from the ISS, and is about to re-enter earth's atmosphere.
The first lauch was teetering on the edge of defeat. Then, there were a few more years of troubleshooting. Finally, it managed to launch and autonomously dock with the ISS. It wasn't without incidents.

Let the "Angry Astronaut" give you an update:
Latest glitch with Boeing Starliner! Why did NASA let this thing dock with ISS?

This sounds like Boeing might be requred to perform another un-manned mission before doing the final human check - which was expected to happen soon.

45TH Weather Squadron forecasts an 80% chance of favorable weather conditions.

Check your local time of launch at: www.timeanddate.com

Where to watch:

• SpaceX livestream

Background information about previous SpaceX launches: Wikipedia

Useful links to stay up to date on launches:

Spaceflightnow.com: Launch Schedule

Everyday Astronaut: Prelaunch Previews

Data: flitghtclub.io

Space News:

NASA Spaceflight nasaspacefight.com

Vote for my witness: @blue-witness

Posted with STEMGeeks