SpaceX keeps pace with 14th Space Coast launch of the year
SpaceX lined up and knocked out the 14th launch from Florida's Space Coast on Tuesday afternoon.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 of the company's Starlink internet satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:53 p.m. Eastern time.
The first-stage booster flew for the 18th time and made a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.
SpaceX has flown all but one of the launches from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral this year.
That includes all five Falcon 9 launches from KSC's Launch Pad 39-A and eight Falcon 9 launches from SLC-40. The other launch was the debut flight from Blue Origin's New Glenn last month from Canaveral's Launch Complex 36.
The company has also launched six times from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, including a Starlink mission earlier Tuesday for a total of 19 across all of its launch pads on both coasts in just 42 days so far this year.
Elon Musk's company tackled 88 of the 93 total launches from the Space Coast in 2024, and is expected to fly the lion's share of what could be as many as 156 missions in 2025.
United Launch Alliance, which has yet to fly in 2025, and newcomer Blue Origin have plans to add to that total.
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