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With liftoff scheduled for 10:35 p.m. Wednesday, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off the launch pad, lighting up the night sky over Cape Canaveral. Its payload: Starlink 6-62, which is the mission name for this batch of 23 Starlink satellites.
The missile took off during the night on its southeastern trajectory and made a loud sound.
Eight and a half minutes later, the Falcon 9 rocket landed on the moon’s surface Lack of gravity Drone in the Atlantic Ocean.
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On Wednesday, the booster rocket witnessed its eighth flight. Its previous missions include three other Starlink missions, ESA Euclid and CRS-30, and two crewed missions from Axiom Space: Ax-2 and Ax-3.
The first of its kind at SpaceX with two heads
Wednesday night was the first of another double launch for SpaceX.
As the Falcon 9 rocket carried a batch of Starlink satellites into orbit, the SpaceX team announced plans to launch another batch — in less than 24 hours.
On Thursday evening, another batch of Starlink satellites is scheduled to be launched from the Space Coast.
As of Thursday morning, SpaceX has confirmed that it is targeting a 6:45 PM EST launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A. However, it was later announced that the launch had been moved to the end of the window at 10:13 PM EST.
As with Wednesday’s launch, the Falcon 9 rocket was expected to move on a southeasterly trajectory and land on a drone in the Atlantic Ocean.
Starliner launch update
Space Coast had almost a triple launch week. NASA has issued a statement that the Starliner spacecraft’s crewed flight test launch has been delayed further, hinting at an attempt on Saturday, May 25. The next launch attempt is now scheduled to take place no later than 12:25 PM EST, Saturday, June 1. This will give teams more time to ensure the spacecraft is ready for launch.
The last launch attempt on May 6 was canceled when a defective oxygen valve was discovered on the Atlas V rocket. ULA crews worked to replace the oxygen valve, but further delays came after a helium leak was discovered coming from a thruster motor in the spacecraft’s service module — a disposable module containing thrusters located beneath the spacecraft.
“It was important that we took our time to understand all the complexities of each issue including the increased capabilities of the Starliner propulsion system and any implications for our Interim Human Evaluation Certification. We will launch Butch and Sonny on this test mission after the entire flight is complete.” The community reviewed the teams’ progress “The flight rationale is in Delta’s Flight Test Readiness Review,” Steve Stich, director of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, was quoted as saying in a press update.
Backup launch opportunities extend to Sunday, June 2, Wednesday, June 5, and Thursday, June 6.
The FLORIDA TODAY Space team will continue to provide the latest information on this story and all Cape at launches floridatoday.com/space.
Brooke Edwards is a satellite correspondent for Florida Today. Call her on [email protected] Or on the tenth: @prokovstars.