SpaceX’s final launch of last week mirrored another launch by a different provider. Similar to ULA’s launch of SES 20 and 21 on October 4, SpaceX also launched a pair of C-band communications satellites on one rocket. These ones were owned by Intelsat, not SES, though, and named Galaxy 33 and 34. They weigh about 3.6 metric tons each. 

The booster assigned to this mission was Booster 1060, and it set a SpaceX milestone of becoming the first booster to fly a paying customer after its tenth flight. In fact, this launch was its fourteenth launch, tying a record set by booster 1058 back in September of this year. However, unlike this launch, that one carried a batch of Starlink.

The Falcon 9 lifted off from SLC-40 on the evening of October 8 at the beginning of a one-hour launch window. Prior to the 8th, the launch had scrubbed twice: once at t-30 seconds and the other a couple of minutes before t=0. At least one of the scrubs was due to a minor helium leak in the first stage. The launch was also delayed to allow SpaceX to conduct “additional vehicle checkouts”. All of these delays led to the rocket launching just after sunset, which meant the plume was lit from the Sun several minutes into ascent, resulting in something called the “jellyfish” by enthusiasts.

The camera on the drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, captured an incredible view of the expanding launch plume of the rocket and the first stage coming back down for a successful landing.

After a short coast phase and a second burn of the upper stage, Galaxy 33 and 34 were deployed one after another. 

This burn pushed the apogee of the orbit higher but not all the way to geostationary altitude. With a payload this heavy, Falcon 9 does not have the performance to go all the way to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) and have enough propellant in reserve to land the booster. Both fairings were recovered from the water and will be reused.

After launch, the two satellites were tracked in an orbit with an apogee about 17,000 kilometers short of typical geostationary orbit, just as planned. Erik did some math, and the lower orbit will require almost an extra half a ton of propellant from the satellites, reducing their total service lifetime somewhat.

Intelsat expects the satellites to enter service next month. 

SpaceX will launch more C-band satellites for both Intelsat and SES soon, but depending on when those payloads arrive at The Cape, one or more of them could be delayed to next year. 

More Information

Intelsat G-33/G-34 mission page (SpaceX)