Welcome to the /c/SpaceX Korea 425 Mission Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Welcome everyone!

Webcasts

Stats

☑️ 304th SpaceX launch all time

☑️ 251st Falcon Family Booster landing

☑️ 14th landing on LZ-4

☑️ 206th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch (excluding Amos-6) (if successful)

☑️ 90th SpaceX launch this year

☑️ 26th launch from SLC-4E this year

☑️ 11 days, 7:48:20 turnaround for this pad Stats include F1, F9 , FH and Starship

Mission Details 🚀

Launch of the first satellite in a contract of 5 reconnaissance satellites for the South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), with 1 satellite featuring an electro-optical infrared (EO/IR) telescope. The other 4 synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites are to be launched at a later date.

They will be launched to low Earth orbit between 600 and 700 km by 2025, enabling South Korea’s military to observe the nuclear-armed neighbor’s key military facilities every two hours with 30-50 centimeters resolution imagery, according to a 2019 report produced by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning.

The project is led by the Korean Agency for Defense Development (ADD) and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), with input from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), Hanwha Systems, and Thales Alenia Space.

There are a total of 25 spacecraft on board this mission, including KOREA's 425, Space BD’s ISL48, SITAEL’s uHETSat, D-Orbit’s ION SCV Daring Diego, York Space Systems’ Bane, and PlanetIQ’s GNOMES-4.

This is the 17th flight of the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, and seven Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4) at Vandenberg Space Force Base.