SpaceX on Sunday launched the first of two Falcon 9 missions scheduled to launch from Florida just hours apart, but the second was unable to launch due to weather conditions in the Atlantic Ocean.
At 8:20 a.m. EST, a Falcon 9 lifted off at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to celebrate the 27th launch from the Space Coast this year. Meanwhile, SpaceX was preparing for another launch less than four hours later from Kennedy Space Center, but teams canceled that mission due to high winds in the Atlantic recovery area where a drone ship was waiting to host a Falcon 9 rocket.
After flying on a southeasterly trajectory from Launch Complex 40 and stranding between Florida and the Bahamas, the 230-foot-tall rocket carried 22 second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit. About eight minutes after liftoff, the booster first stage aimed the SpaceX drone “just read the instructions” for landing in the Atlantic Ocean.
doubleheader launch:SpaceX will attempt to launch two Falcon 9 rockets from Florida on Sunday
What was the payload?
All told, SpaceX has launched more than 4,500 Starlink satellites.
The company’s near-global constellation operates 340 miles above Earth’s surface to provide high-speed connectivity services to rural and hard-to-reach destinations around the world. Sunday’s mission includes 22 second-generation satellites, called “V2 Minis.”
Starlink has more than 1 million customers, but SpaceX is nowhere near finished building its orbital network. The company expects to launch tens of thousands of satellites to serve residential and commercial customers on every continent, as well as provide on-the-go service to boats, aircraft and recreational vehicles.
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Missile launch schedule:Upcoming launches and landings in Florida
When is the next launch date?
After scrubbing in for the second launch on Sunday, the NASA and SpaceX teams retargeted at 11:47 a.m. EST on Monday, June 5 for the next mission carrying cargo to the International Space Station. The mission is scheduled to fly from Kennedy Space Center’s Platform 39A.
The resupply flight that will send thousands of pounds of cargo and science experiments to a crew aboard the International Space Station will mark SpaceX’s 28th cargo flight for NASA and the 28th mission to fly from Florida in 2023.
Had back-to-back Sunday launches occurred, it would have been a remarkable feat, but it wasn’t a record for the fastest turnaround between two Florida missions. This honor It still belongs to NASA’s Gemini programwhich launched two separate vehicles in a roughly 90-minute window in 1966.
Find FLORIDA TODAY’s live launch coverage of that mission to begin 90 minutes before liftoff at https://www.floridatoday.com/space/.
For the latest information, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Contact Jimmy Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her Twitter @AlteredJamie.
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