Payload Fairings From SpaceX Starlink Launch Sail into Port Canaveral: Photos

1^st recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails back into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO NAVIGATOR vessel after crews hoisted it on board after ocean splashdown. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Ken Kremer -- SpaceUpClose.com & RocketSTEM – 26 May 2019

PORT CANAVERAL, FL –  Both payload fairings that protected the maiden Starlink broadband communications satellites during their ascent to orbit and were successfully recovered from the ocean following the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on Thursday evening May 23 sailed into Port Canaveral, Florida, this morning Sunday May 26.

The two fairing were retrieved from the sea waters of the Atlantic Ocean by the SpaceX naval fleet after parachutes assisted splashdown.

Crews hauled the fairings out of the water soon after splashdown and they appeared to be intact on the decks on the GO NAVIGATOR and GO SEARCHER recovery ships at that time, based of photos released by SpaceX.

I witnessed the payload fairing arriving on GO NAVIGATOR and GO SEARCHER one after another at about 10:30 a.m. EDT May 26 after they sailed into the mouth of Port Canaveral.

Enjoy our Space UpClose gallery of photos

2nd recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails back into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO SEARCHER vessel after crews hoisted it on board after ocean splashdown. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

“Starlink will connect the globe with reliable and affordable high-speed broadband services," says SpaceX. 

Within roughly half an hour the two ships with the two fairings on board docked side-by-side at the normal berthing port.  

Interestingly they docked near two Dragon test articles! Making for quite a sight.

1^st recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails past two Dragon test articles after sailing into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO NAVIGATOR vessel after crews hoisted it on board after ocean splashdown. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

On the voyage in they passed by Mr Steven, SpaceX’s designated fairing catching vessel, which was not used for this launch because it was just repaired this week and outfitted with a nifty new blue colored net. 

1^st recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails past Mr Steven after sailing into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO NAVIGATOR vessel after crews hoisted it on board after ocean splashdown. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Both recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails back into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO NAVIGATOR and GO SEARCHER recovery vessels and dock side-by-side between Mr Steven and two Dragon test articles.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Mr Steven was damaged a few months back. The arms and net were reinstalled last week as the SpaceX launch was taking place. 

1^st recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails past Mr Steven after sailing into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO NAVIGATOR vessel after crews hoisted it on board after ocean splashdown. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Both recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails back into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO NAVIGATOR and GO SEARCHER recovery vessels and dock side-by-side beside two Dragon test articles.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The Starlink satellite deployments took place as planned approximately an hour after blastoff

Both recovered SpaceX payload fairing from Falcon 9 launch of 1^st Starlink satellites on May 23, 2019 sails back into Port Canaveral, FL on May 26 on the deck of the GO NAVIGATOR and GO SEARCHER recovery vessels and dock side-by-side between Mr Steven and two Dragon test articles.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

The Starlink 1 launch was scrubbed twice last week – first for excessive and powerful upper levels winds which could destroy the rocket on ascent through the atmosphere on the originally targeted date of May 15. And second to fix a pesky software issue that was only discovered several hours prior to the second attempt on May 16

Liftoff of the Starlink 1 mission finally took place at 10:30 p.m. EDT Thursday, May 23 (0230 GMT Friday) from Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40) on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasts off with 1^st batch of 60 SpaceX manufactured Starlink broadband satellites at 10:30 p.m. ET on May 23, 2019 from Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, FL on Starlink-1 mission.  Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com/spaceupclose.com

Watch my SpaceX launch commentary and rocket photos at this Fox 35 Orlando report from May 16 launch attempt:

http://www.fox35orlando.com/home/spacex-trying-again-for-launch-of-falcon-9-rocket

Watch for Ken’s continuing onsite coverage of NASA, SpaceX, ULA, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and more space and mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida and Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news: www.kenkremer.com –www.spaceupclose.com – twitter @ken_kremer – email: ken at kenkremer.com

Dr. Kremer is a research scientist and journalist based in the KSC area, active in outreach and interviewed regularly on TV and radio about space topics.

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Ken’s photos are for sale and he is available for lectures and outreach events