SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster notches record 22nd landing after Thursday launch from Cape
Settling atop the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions in a fiery touchdown, a battle-tested Falcon 9 first-stage booster set a new standard Thursday morning by making its 22nd launch and landing.
The Falcon 9 launched on the Starlink 10-3 mission at 7:14 a.m. EDT, less than an hour after a brilliant orange sunrise at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Thin clouds stretched across the morning sky during the minutes before liftoff at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Press Site, within eyeshot of the launch pad.
The rocket propelled 23 more Starlink broadband satellites into low-Earth orbit on a northeasterly trajectory.
Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule in Florida
Looking ahead on the calendar — and though SpaceX has not publicly confirmed this launch — another 4½-hour Starlink window will open early Wednesday morning, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and Federal Aviation Administration navigational warnings indicate.
That Wednesday launch window extends from 2:01 a.m. to 6:31 a.m. for the Starlink 8-9 mission.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX Falcon 9 booster makes record 22nd landing Thursday after launch
