SpaceX wows with a double header of final 2023 rocket launches (photos, video)

Robert Lea
·2 min read
2
The Falcon Heavy carrying the USSF-52 to space launches fropm Florida .
The Falcon Heavy carrying the USSF-52 to space launches fropm Florida .

SpaceX capped off 2023 with not one but two rocket launches, bringing its total number of blast-offs to 98 in 2023.

The first SpaceX mission to take to the skies Thursday (Dec. 28) was a Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the U.S. military's secretive X-37B space plane, designed mission USSF-52. That blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 GMT on Dec. 29). This marked the second Falcon Heavy flight of 2023.

Second up on the launch docket for Thursday, hours later, was a Falcon 9 liftoff carrying 23 SpaceX Starlink units to low Earth orbit from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This launch took place at 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 GMT on Dec. 29). This was SpaceX's 98th and final launch of 2023, and the 96th flight for a Falcon 9 rocket this year.

Related: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches mysterious X-37B space plane for US Space Force after delays

SpaceX took to X, formerly Twitter, to celebrate the successful launch of the USSF-52 mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), with a series of stunning images.

a black and white space plane sits on a runway at night.
a black and white space plane sits on a runway at night.

The X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility shortly after touching down on Nov. 12, 2022. (Image credit: U.S. Space Force/Staff Sgt. Adam Shanks)

SpaceX's 97th launch overall for this year marked the seventh flight for X-37B, but the first time the space plane hitched a lift atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. The X-37B/Falcon Heavy launch had been scrubbed several times previously due to bad weather and an issue with ground equipment.

A Falcon 9 rocket waits of the launchpad in Florida to become the 98th and final SpaceX launch of 2023 on Dec. 28
A Falcon 9 rocket waits of the launchpad in Florida to become the 98th and final SpaceX launch of 2023 on Dec. 28

A Falcon 9 rocket waits of the launchpad in Florida to become the 98th and final SpaceX launch of 2023 on Dec. 28 (Image credit: SpaceX)

The launch of 23 Starlink broadband satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida that capped off 2023 was also the 96th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket during this year.

SpaceX also posted images of this launch to its X feed.

SpaceX's next launch is targeted for Jan. 2, 2024 and will see a further 21 Starlink satellites lift to orbit to join the over 5,500 internet supplying units currently orbiting Earth.