A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched from Cape Canaveral for the 39th time this year, marking the 49th SpaceX flight from the Space Coast and the 69th orbital mission across all of its launch sites. The rocket’s liftoff occurred at 10 p.m. on Friday, following delays due to adverse weather conditions.
Notably, the first-stage booster completed its 10th flight and executed a successful recovery landing on the droneship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean.
SpaceX has been responsible for nearly all of the Space Coast’s 52 missions in the current year, with Relativity Space contributing one launch, and United Launch Alliance (ULA) managing two more.
ULA may soon take the spotlight with its announcement of a planned liftoff next Friday for an Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41, with a launch window opening at 2 p.m. The payload for this mission comprises Amazon’s first two test Project Kuiper satellites. This launch signifies a significant step for ULA, as Amazon has secured additional Atlas rockets and 38 missions on its upcoming Vulcan Centaur, which will play a pivotal role in deploying more than half of its planned 3,236-satellite constellation, competing with SpaceX’s Starlink.
SpaceX has an important launch scheduled for early October, with NASA originally planning to launch its Psyche probe mission aboard a Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center on October 5. However, NASA has since rescheduled the liftoff to no earlier than October 12 at 10:16 a.m. The launch window for the Psyche probe mission extends through October 23. This mission aims to explore the metal-rich asteroid, also named Psyche, on a multi-year journey.
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