SpaceX Sunday night launch sends Starlink satellites into orbit
Kicking off a Florida-California SpaceX launch doubleheader, a Falcon 9 rocket vaulted off the pad Sunday night on another Starlink satellite mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The 230-foot rocket lifted off at 7:05 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 40, deploying 23 more Starlink internetbeaming satellites into low-Earth orbit.
Fifty-five minutes before liftoff, a SpaceX tweet had announced, “all systems are looking good and weather is 95% favorable.”
Then a few minutes after liftoff, SpaceX officials tweeted a video showing separation of the fairing halves that comprised the Falcon 9’s nose cone.
“These fairings recently supported USSF-124 only 25 days ago, marking the fastest turn-around time for fairing reusability to date,” SpaceX announced.
SpaceX launched the Space Force’s classified USSF-124 mission Feb. 14 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. That Falcon 9 lifted two secretive Missile Defense Agency satellites and four Space Development Agency satellites into orbit, a Space Force press release said.
SpaceX’s Sunday mission preceded the company’s back-to-back Starlink Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. That West Coast mission carrying 23 additional Starlink satellites lifted off at 12:09 a.m. EDT Monday, or five hours and four minutes after the Cape Canaveral liftoff.
The Florida Falcon 9’s first-stage booster landed atop the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions out on the Atlantic Ocean, wrapping up its 11th mission.
The booster had previously launched Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, NG-20 and four Starlink missions, SpaceX reported.
Looking ahead, though SpaceX has yet to make a public announcement, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warning indicates another rocket launch window will open Wednesday night. Those hours extend from 7:29 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the Cape.
For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at 321242-3638 or Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1