SpaceX, ULA launch back-to-back rockets in under 5 hours at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
First, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:58 a.m. from Launch Complex 40. The Falcon 9 deployed 27 Starlink internet satellites into low-Earth orbit after ascending along a northeasterly trajectory.
Next, shortly after sunrise, United Launch Alliance launched an Atlas V rocket sporting five solid rocket boosters at 6:54 a.m. on Amazon's second Project Kuiper internet constellation mission. That rocket also lifted off to the northeast from Launch Complex 41 at the Space Force installation.
Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, Axiom, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral
Amazon's Project Kuiper doubled in size from a modest 27 satellites to 54 with the June 23 launch. At the other end of the spectrum, more than 7,800 Starlink satellites are functioning in low-Earth orbit, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Both rockets had scrubbed during previous unsuccessful launch countdowns the past week. The Falcon 9 aborted liftoff June 22 with only 58 seconds remaining in the launch countdown after an issue emerged with its autonomous flight termination system. Meanwhile, the Atlas V scrub occurred June 16 after an elevated purge temperature was detected within a booster engine.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 launch clocked in as the 52nd orbital rocket launch thus far this year from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center. ULA's Project Kuiper launch swiftly upped that running total to 53.
The Starlink mission marked the Falcon 9 first-stage booster's 25th flight, SpaceX reported. The booster previously launched CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19 and 20 Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the booster landed on the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
Nicknamed "The Bruiser," the Atlas V variant with five solid rocket boosters has now flown 16 times in that configuration since 2006. Atlas V rockets have previously launched the New Horizons spacecraft to Pluto, the Juno orbiter to Jupiter, national security missions and the maiden Project Kuiper mission on April 28.
ULA's next launch — which has not been scheduled yet — will be the USSF-106 mission, the first Vulcan rocket mission for the Space Force.
Next on the Eastern Range schedule, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational advisory shows SpaceX is targeting a 4½-hour launch window Wednesday afternoon for another Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. More details:
Launch window: 12:33 p.m. to 5:03 p.m.
Location: Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Sonic booms: No.
Trajectory: Northeast.
Live FLORIDA TODAY Space Team coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.
For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space. Another easy way: Click here to sign up for our weekly Space newsletter.
Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at Rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1
Space is important to us and that's why we're working to bring you top coverage of the industry and Florida launches. Journalism like this takes time and resources. Please support it with a subscription here.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Starlink, Amazon Project Kuiper satellites launch during same morning
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
15 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Musk Races to Fix SpaceX's Starship After Failures, Explosions
When one of SpaceX's Starship vehicles burst into flames during a routine fueling test in June, the Elon Musk-led company decided it was time to bring in reinforcements. Shortly after the incident, roughly 20% of the engineering group working on the company's flagship Falcon 9 program were reassigned for six months to Starship, a reusable rocket Musk hopes will someday carry humans back to the moon and to Mars, according to people familiar with the company's planning. Bloomberg News Space Reporter Loren Grush joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss. (Source: Bloomberg)
The Hill
3 hours ago
- The Hill
Watch live: NASA briefs press on completed SpaceX CREW-10 mission on ISS
NASA's Crew-10 astronauts will brief reporters Wednesday afternoon on their nearly five-month SpaceX mission aboard the International Space Station. The crew — which included NASA's Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov — returned to Earth earlier this month, splashing down off the coast of San Diego. 'The crew spent 146 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, traveling nearly 62,795,205 million miles and completing 2,368 orbits around Earth,' NASA wrote in its news release. 'While living and working aboard the station, the crew completed hundreds of science experiments and technology demonstrations.' McClain, Ayers and Onishi will take questions from the media at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The press conference is scheduled to begin a 4:15 p.m. EDT.
TechCrunch
3 hours ago
- TechCrunch
Starship launches could delay Florida flights up to 2 hours, FAA says
As regulators weigh SpaceX's plans to launch its massive Starship rocket from Kennedy Space Center, federal documents warn those flights could ripple through Florida airspace, forcing ground stops at multiple airports, reroutes, and delays of up to two hours. Even after launch, reentry of Starship's two stages could require ground stops at some of the busiest airports in the country, according to a draft environmental impact statement (EIS) released by the Federal Aviation Administration this month. Florida airports affected by the launches may include Orlando International, Miami International, Tampa International, and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International. Average delays could be as long as 40 minutes to 2 hours for launches and Super Heavy booster landings, and 40 minutes to one hour for Starship reentries. Diversions and cancellations are possible, the FAA said in a companion slide deck. To manage risk, the FAA would establish Aircraft Hazard Areas (AHAs) over potentially impacted zones, as it does for commercial space launches today. Depending on the Starship flight trajectory, those zones could overlay routes above the Atlantic, parts of the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, and airspace in several Central American countries. 'AHAs may necessitate the closure of dozens of coastal and deep-water oceanic airways over the Atlantic Ocean, requiring substantial aircraft rerouting to avoid the AHAs,' the draft EIS says regarding Starship launches. Tampa International Airport spokesperson Emily Nipps told TechCrunch the airport has not been involved in any briefings or procedural planning with the FAA or SpaceX, so far. However, a day after TechCrunch sent its inquiries to the relevant airports and the FAA, Nipps said the airport was informed it would be having those discussions 'soon.' Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW 'Whether that changes anything for us operationally, I don't yet know,' she said. A spokesperson for Miami International said they have not received any briefings on possible ground stops. SpaceX has been launching its flagship Falcon rockets from the Florida coast for years, and that cadence has sharply increased since 2020. Despite launching over 80 Falcon rockets from the Eastern Range last year, these launches don't typically interrupt commercial airlines. But the Falcon rockets are substantially different from Starship: Falcon's smaller size means a smaller possible footprint for debris in the case of an anomaly, and the Falcon launches are at this point predictable and mature. Starship is in a much earlier stage of development, with vehicles still occasionally blowing up during both ground tests and orbital flights. Indeed, the draft EIS notes that the size of airspace closures may vary with each Starship mission, and that it could shrink as the vehicle becomes more reliable. An FAA spokesperson said the agency has already engaged with aviation organizations, and worked with SpaceX to develop notional launch and reentry trajectories. Prior to launch, the agency will also distribute a final Airspace Management Plan. The FAA relies on a number of factors, including the number of affected passengers, launch window duration, and major holidays when determining when a space launch can proceed, the spokesperson added. Starship is SpaceX's next-generation launch system designed for travel to the Moon and Mars. The 400-foot-tall rocket is composed of two stages: an upper stage, also called Starship, and a Super Heavy booster. Both stages are designed to be fully reusable and rapidly refurbished for high-cadence satellite delivery and missions to deep space. Today, SpaceX conducts all Starship launch activities from Starbase in south Texas. But the company is looking to expand operations to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, prompting the environmental review. That review is conducted by the FAA in cooperation with NASA, the Air Force, the Fish and Wildlife Service, and other federal agencies. The draft EIS analyzes up to 44 Starship launches per year, which could include up to 44 Super Heavy booster landings and 44 Starship landings. Super Heavy could land back at LC-39A, the launch pad at KSC, on a droneship, or be expended in the Atlantic. Starship landings could likewise occur at the pad, on a ship, or as water splashdowns with recovery in the Atlantic, Pacific, or Indian Oceans. The FAA said in the draft EIS that while temporary airspace closures may impact commercial airlines and other stakeholders, 'mitigation strategies such as pre-coordinated reroutes, dynamic scheduling, and time-based traffic flow management could reduce operational burdens.' Today, FAA uses a prototype tool called Space Data Integrator, which ingests real-time flight data from SpaceX and other operators to shrink the amount of time airspace is closed. The regulator says it wants to develop more tools to beef out its situational awareness capability, and each time Starship launches it will get more data on its operations. The U.S. Space Force is running a parallel environmental review at neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Base that analyzes up to 76 annual Starship launches. While the draft EIS for that site states Starship launches would result in airspace closures, it says details of the closures are not yet known because the site is expected to take months to prepare.
