321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week

Emre Kelly, Florida Today
·3 min read

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SpaceX launches south, delivers more Starlink satellites

A Falcon 9 rocket blasted off a Cape Canaveral Space Force Station pad early Sunday, taking a batch of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites along a southern trajectory that skirted by Florida's east coast.

Despite earlier forecasts that called for poor weather, nine Merlin main engines roared to life at 12:10 a.m. EST Sunday, boosting the more than million-pound rocket off the pad at Launch Complex 40. It marked the Space Coast's eighth of the year.

Read the full post-launch story here. Also, check out our photographer Craig Bailey's incredible capture of Falcon 9 flying in front of the moon in our gallery here.

Another Russian hardware leak on the ISS

Russian launch support for the International Space Station, which primarily involves two different crewed and cargo capsules, is off to a rough start this year – again.

After one Progress cargo capsule, labeled MS-22, docked with the ISS last week, another already there (MS-21, which arrived in October) appeared to suffer a depressurization event. Naturally, the word "depressurization" when it comes to spaceflight sets off alarm bells, especially at mission control in Moscow.

In a statement to FLORIDA TODAY, NASA said the docking of MS-22 went as expected. It's unclear why MS-21 suddenly recorded depressurization right around the same time.

Russian engineers, NASA said, narrowed it down to the ship's coolant loop. NASA specialists are working with their Russian counterparts to troubleshoot the issue.

"The reason for the loss of coolant in the Progress 82 spacecraft is being investigated. The hatches between the Progress 82 and the station are open, and temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations," NASA said.

The incident comes after another coolant leak was observed in a Soyuz spacecraft late last year, the cause of which was eventually narrowed down to a micrometeoroid strike. That event was more dramatic as Soyuz spacecraft are crewed, so the ISS team essentially lost one of their rides home.

More national/international reporting:

Next launch, Feb. 17: SpaceX Inmarsat I-6 F2

  • Company / Agency: SpaceX for Inmarsat

  • Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9

  • Location: Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

  • Launch Window: 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. EST

  • Trajectory: East-Northeast

  • Weather: Forecast out Tuesday

  • Landing: Drone ship

  • Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space

  • About: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second in the Inmarsat-6 series of satellites, I-6 F2, from Cape Canaveral. The satellite will provide internet connectivity to commercial and government users.

For the latest, see our full schedule at floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: 321 Launch: Space news you may have missed over the past week