Multicolored flames emanating from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket treated Brevard County spectators to a spectacular show Thursday evening as another Starlink mission soared along a southeastern trajectory.
“Engines full power and takeoff. Go Falcon, go Starlink,” a SpaceX crew member announced during the company’s webcast as the 230-foot rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
SpaceX crews announced a trio of minor delays ahead of Thursday’s Starlink 6-55 launch, pushing the launch time from 9:49 p.m. to 10:37 p.m. EDT.
SpaceX did not publicly reveal why that happened. The National Weather Service radar loop from the Melbourne Orlando International Airport station showed no significant cloud cover over the Space Coast, and the Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron had estimated the probability of “go for launch” conditions at 85%.
Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming rocket launch schedule from SpaceX, NASA and ULA in Florida
The mission deployed an additional 23 broadband satellites into the ever-expanding Starlink constellation in low Earth orbit.
“Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency internet is now available in Uruguay!” Company officials announced this in a tweet on Thursday afternoon.
The mission marked the 19th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster, SpaceX reported. The widely traveled booster previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, SES 03b mPOWER, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Merah Putih 2 and nine Starlink missions.
After the separation of the stages, the booster landed on top of the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
On Thursday morning, Space Florida released a report outlining a long-term vision for a $2.1 billion northward expansion near Port Canaveral, with a proposed large-scale wharf along the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to transport drone ships, ocean-going vessels and watercraft from the space industry. and pick up rocket boosters, fairings and capsules.
One Falcon 9 launch can generate SpaceX ocean recovery operations for all three of these components. According to the Space Florida study, demand in the commercial space industry will increase to 197 annual recoveries by 2028; 571 in 2053; and 1,252 in 2073.
Less than seven hours before the Starlink 6-55 launch, SpaceX crews launched a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California for the Maxar 1 mission.
The rocket delivered a pair of Maxar Intelligence geospatial satellites into low Earth orbit, marking SpaceX’s 44th mission of 2024 nationwide.
“Our first two WorldView Legion spacecraft have deployed their solar panels and started receiving and sending signals! Now we’re putting them to use for image collection. Thanks @SpaceX for the ride to orbit!” company officials announced this in a tweet on Thursday at 5:46 p.m.
Visit floridatoday.com/space for the latest news and launch schedules from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Rick Neale is a space reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX Falcon 9 streaks colorfully across the dark sky Thursday evening
