A Falcon 9 rocket launches from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, on Aug. 26, 2023. (Joshua Conti/U.S. Air Force)
(Tribune News Service) — SpaceX knocked out its 50th Space Coast launch of the year with another Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station early Thursday.
A Falcon 9 carrying 22 of the company’s Starlink satellites lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:36 a.m. after several delays.
The booster on this flight made its eighth flight with another recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was SpaceX’s 70th orbital launch of the year across all of its launch pads in Florida and California. It’s the 40th from Cape Canaveral with the other 10 Space Coast launches coming from Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX has managed 50 of the 53 total Space Coast launches this year with two so far from United Launch Alliance and one from Relativity Space making up the rest. The majority of SpaceX launches have been for Starlink, which has sent up more than 5,000 satellites since the first launch in 2019 for its growing megaconstellation.
ULA, though, is gearing up for an Atlas V launch on Friday from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 on a mission to bring up the first two test satellites for Amazon’s planned foray to complete with Starlink, its own internet megaconstellation called Project Kuiper.
Weather for ULA’s attempt Friday is tracking at 80% chance for good conditions.
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