SpaceX achieved another Starlink launch on its rocket belt from Cape Canaveral on Friday evening.
A Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 6-14 mission carrying 22 Internet satellites lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 11:12 p.m., the first of two launches from the Space Coast that could fly within 10 minutes. Hours with the planned United Launch Alliance Atlas V mission from a nearby launch complex on Saturday morning.
Leaves! pic.twitter.com/bxVowIiW7p
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 9, 2023
The first stage booster made its seventh flight with a recovery landing aboard the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone in the Atlantic Ocean.
This marks the 47th Space Coast launch of the year, with all but two coming from SpaceX.
The Falcon 9 first stage landed on board the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone pic.twitter.com/aNWmflqvNi
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 9, 2023
The 48th launch from ULA, which last flew in June, is scheduled to come with only its second launch of the year on Saturday morning from Canaveral’s SLC 41.
This flight is an Atlas V rocket equipped with five solid rocket boosters on a National Reconnaissance Office and Space Force mission called SILENTBARKER/NROL-107 scheduled for launch at 8:51 a.m.
The other non-SpaceX Space Coast launch came in March from Relativity Space with a 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket.
After Idalia was postponed, ULA is scheduled to launch the Atlas V on Saturday
However, SpaceX is operating at a rate that could see it exceed 90 launches this year from all of its facilities.
Including the California launches, SpaceX has made 63 orbital flights in 2023 after already surpassing the record of 61 it set in 2022. This does not include the April 20 attempt of the Starship and Super Heavy vehicles from the Test Launch Facility in Texas Starbase.
The Federal Aviation Administration has closed its investigation into the SpaceX Starship accident since the April explosion, but is not ready to let it fly
That flight ended in a pre-orbit explosion, but Elon Musk’s company has a second spacecraft stacked on the launch pad there awaiting FAA approval for another flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Friday that it has completed its investigation into the incident, but SpaceX must implement 63 corrective actions deemed necessary to make Starship flights safe.
Starship is the eventual planned replacement for the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.