Payload Signal Acquisition confirmed.
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Historical mission record
This page records Falcon 9 Block 5 | SPHEREx & PUNCH and its reported outcome: Launch Successful. The date above is a historical record.
Source record updated . This is a source update, not a confirmed launch time.
Check the source: SpaceX ↗ · Launch Library ↗ · Flight Club ↗
The latest on this mission
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Mission status
Launch Successful
Status reported by the mission data provider.
LAUNCH SITEVandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Mission
SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves as a powerful tool for answering cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe, and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for water and organic molecules – essentials for life as we know it – in regions where stars are born from gas and dust, known as stellar nurseries, as well as disks around stars where new planets could be forming. Astronomers will use the mission to gather data on more than 300 million galaxies, as well as more than 100 million stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. NASA’s Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH) mission will share a ride to space with SPHEREx. It consists of four suitcase-sized satellites, which will focus on the Sun’s outer atmosphere (the corona) and how it generates the solar wind. The spacecraft also will track coronal mass ejections – large eruptions of solar material that can drive large space weather events near Earth – to better understand their evolution and develop new techniques for predicting such eruptions.
- Launch vehicle
- Falcon 9 Block 5
- Mission type
- Astrophysics
- Destination orbit
- Sun-Synchronous Orbit
- Launch pad
- Space Launch Complex 4E
- Provider
- SpaceX
- Recovery
- Return to Launch Site, The Falcon 9 booster B1088 has returned to the launch site at LZ-4 after its 3rd flight. +1
The vehicle
Published configuration and flight history.
Launch vehicle
Falcon 9 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.
- Height
- 70 m
- Diameter
- 3.65 m
- Stages
- 2
- Recorded launches
- 537
- First flight
- 2018-05-11
Recorded timing
This is a mission record, not an upcoming calendar appointment.
0.5 minute windowPublished target
WINDOW OPENS
WINDOW CLOSES
Target ·
The target marker shows its position within the published window. The schedule may change before launch.
Flight timeline
Planned sequence, not live telemetry. Times are relative to the launch target.
- T−00:38:00
GO for Prop Load
- T−00:35:00
Prop Load
- T−00:35:00
Stage 1 LOX Load
- T−00:16:00
Stage 2 LOX Load
- T−00:07:00
Engine Chill
- T−00:01:00
Tank Press
Show the full sequence (27 events)
- T−00:01:00
Startup
- T−00:00:45
GO for Launch
- T−00:00:03
Ignition
- T+00:00:00
Liftoff
- T+00:01:08
Max-Q
- T+00:02:16
MECO
- T+00:02:20
Stage 2 Separation
- T+00:02:28
SES-1
- T+00:02:33
Booster Boostback Burn Startup
- T+00:03:00
Fairing Separation
- T+00:03:28
Booster Boostback Burn Shutdown
- T+00:06:13
Entry Burn Startup
- T+00:06:32
Entry Burn Shutdown
- T+00:07:27
Stage 1 Landing Burn
- T+00:07:54
Stage 1 Landing
- T+00:08:16
SECO-1
- T+00:39:28
SES-2
- T+00:40:10
SECO-2
- T+00:41:56
Payload Separation
- T+00:52:16
Payload Separation
- T+00:53:07
Payload Separation
Launch site & orbit
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
The mission in perspective
Launch site & orbit
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Understand this orbit
Coverage & sources
Links supplied by the mission data provider.
Coverage and times may change.
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