Photo: Charles Boyer / Talk of Titusville
SpaceX successfully launched the HTS 113BT telecommunications satellite to orbit from Cape Canaveral this afternoon at 3:11 PM EST for Indonesian company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. Around eight and one-half minutes later, Booster 1067 safely touched down on SpaceX’s Automated Spaceport Droneship “Just Read The Instructions,” (JRTI) which was located offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.
Photo: Ed Cordero / Florida Media Now
JRTI is set to return to Port Canaveral several days from now, and the booster will be returned to SpaceX’s Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center for inspection, refurbishment and preparation for a potential 18th flight.
HTS 113BT At A Glance
HTS 113BT will replace the lost Palapa N1 (Nusantara 2) satellite. It was launched in April 2020, aboard a Long March-3B/G2 (Chang Zheng-3B/G2) rocket. The launch took place at 11:46 UTC from the LC2 pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, but a reported third stage failure prevented the mission from being completed, and Palapa N1 re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrated shortly afterwards.
Once commissioned, according to Thales, the company that built HTS 113BT, the satellite will “provide more than 32 Gbps capacity over Indonesia. The satellite [weighed] about 4 metric tons at launch and will be delivered early 2024 for a 15-year expected lifetime.”
Successful 17th Mission for B1067
Today’s launch was the 17th flight for SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster 1067, which entered service in 2021 when it launched the ISS Commercial Resupply mission CRS-22.
| Booster 1067 | | |
| Flight Number | Mission | Date |
| 1 | CRS-22 | June 21, 2021 |
| 2 | NASA Crew-3 | November 11, 2021 |
| 3 | Türksat 5B | December 19, 2021 |
| 4 | NASA Crew-4 | April 27, 2022 |
| 5 | CRS-25 | July 14, 2022 |
| 6 | Starlink 4-34 | September 19, 2022 |
| 7 | Hotbird 13G | November 3, 2022 |
| 8 | O3b mPOWER 1 & 2 | December 16, 2022 |
| 9 | Starlink 5-2 | January 26, 2023 |
| 10 | Starlink 5-5 | March 24, 2023 |
| 11 | Starlink 5-9 | May 14, 2023 |
| 12 | Satria-1 | June 18, 2023 |
| 13 | Starlink 6-10 | August 17, 2023 |
| 14 | Starlink 6-22 | October 13, 2023 |
| 15 | Starlink 6-29 | November 22, 2023 |
| 16 | Starlink 6-35 | January 7, 2024 |
| 17 | HTS 113BT | February 20, 2024 |
Next Launch
Next up from the Eastern Range (CCSFS and KSC) is Starlink 6-39, SpaceX’s next batch of satellites for its orbital-based Internet service. The launch window extends from 4:59 PM – 9:30 PM EST and will be from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Author: Charles Boyer
NASA kid from Cocoa Beach, FL, born of Project Apollo parents and family. I’m a writer and photographer sharing the story of spaceflight from the Eastern Range here in Florida.
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