CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — Florida’s rocket lovers got a rare treat as SpaceX launched its second liftoff on Saturday evening with a Starlink mission.
What You Need To Know
- This was the second Florida launch for Saturday evening.
- The liftoff took place at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Liftoff of Falcon 9, marking 260 reflights of Falcon boosters since our first one seven years ago today! pic.twitter.com/A12OqppvaU
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 31, 2024
After leaving Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket sent more than 20 Starlink satellites to orbit at 9:30 p.m. ET.
The near-hour launch window opened at 9:02 p.m. ET but it was pushed back. The California-based company had until 10 p.m. ET until the launch window closed, stated SpaceX.
Liftoff conditions were good as the 45th Weather Squadron gave about a 95% chance of good launch conditions with the only concern being the thick cloud layers rule.
The Starlink 6-45 mission was the second SpaceX launch for Saturday night, with the first one sending up the Eutelsat 36D satellite.
The last time SpaceX did a double launch in Florida was in July 2023: The JUPITER 3 mission and a Starlink mission.
And if we are keeping score, SpaceX as a whole will have three launches on Saturday, with the other one, a Starlink mission, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Ready to launch
Not counting this launch, the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1067 has 17 successful missions on its resume.
- CRS-22
- Crew-3
- Turksat 5B
- Crew-4
- CRS-25
- Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G
- mPOWER-a
- Satria
- Eight Starlink missions
After the stage separation, the first-stage booster landed on A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon 9 completes this booster’s 18th launch and landing and our 290th Falcon landing overall pic.twitter.com/4z3Gcrh7LG
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 31, 2024
About the mission
Going to low-Earth orbit, 23 Starlink satellites will join the thousands of others to provide internet services across parts of the round Earth.
Starlink is a company owned by SpaceX.
Before this launch, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ Dr. Jonathan McDowell documented the following Starlink satellites stats.
- 5,677 are in orbit
- 5,610 in working order
- 5,162 are in operational orbit