A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off under sunny skies Thursday morning, delivering SiriusXM’s newest geostationary communications satellite into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
“SXM-9 has a large, deployable reflector nearly 30 feet in diameter that allows SiriusXM programming to reach its radios, including those in moving vehicles,” the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center website said about the satellite.
The Falcon 9 took off from pad 39A at 11:10 a.m. EST. After stage separation, the rocket’s first stage booster landed aboard SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, completing its 19th flight.
Rocket photography: FLORIDA TODAY’s 2025 space launch calendar is here
SpaceX reported that the drone ship’s landing marked the 100th time a first-stage booster has landed atop Just Read the Instructions. The landing also marked the company’s 380th overall successful booster recovery.
The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron had estimated the probability of go for launch conditions for Thursday’s mission at more than 95%, with no primary meteorological issues to report.
The SiriusXM satellite launch marked the unprecedented 87th orbital rocket launch of the year to date from KSC and the adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, further expanding the Space Coast’s current annual record.
A day earlier, a SpaceX Falcon 9 took off from the Space Force facility at 5:13 a.m. Wednesday, delivering 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. That was launch #86 of 2024.
Maxar Space Systems officials shared behind-the-scenes photos of the SXM-9 satellite at the company’s production facility in Palo Alto, California, in late October. The company has now produced more than 95 satellites in orbit.
A Maxar photo posted to
Next, a 4½-hour launch window for a SpaceX Starlink mission will open early Sunday morning on the Eastern Range calendar, an operational plan advisory from the Federal Aviation Administration indicates. Opening hours: 12:10 AM to 4:41 AM
That Falcon 9 will take off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. FLORIDA TODAY Space Team live coverage of the mission begins 90 minutes before launch at floridatoday.com/space.
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 rocket launches SiriusXM SXM-9 satellite from NASA’s KSC on Thursday
