Start of hurricane season sees SpaceX rocket launch from Florida ahead of weather system
A loud, sustained rumble shook the Space Coast during the first hour of Tuesday − and it wasn't thunder.
The loud rumble was a SpaceX rocket taking off on the latest Starlink delivery mission. The liftoff occurred on time at 12:43 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40, despite weather lingering off shore.
With hurricane season officially started, the first bit of activity is already seen. However, the National Hurricane Center has predicted this system offshore has a low chance of turning into the season's first hurricane.
"Monday evening 6/2: A non-tropical area of low pressure is forecast to form near or offshore of the southeastern U.S. coast within the next 2 to 3 days. The system has a low chance of formation later this week while moving northeastward at 10 to 15 mph," the National Hurricane Center wrote in a May 2 post on X (formerly Twitter).
Those hazy conditions over Cape Canaveral provided not just acoustics for the rocket's accent and stage separation, but a murky filter over the glowing rocket.
When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, Axiom, ULA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral
The payload of this mission was the latest batch of 23 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites. These satellites provide internet to customers in the most remote areas on Earth.
It was the 21st launch for the first stage, also known as the booster. To date, SpaceX's record for a booster is 28 flights, as seen during a launch last month. Previous missions for this well-flown booster include: 13 other Starlink missions, NASA's Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, NG-20, and TD7.
Eight-and-a-half minutes past the lift off, the booster came in for its 21st landing on the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions, which was stationed out on the Atlantic Ocean. As a result, no Florida sonic booms were heard.
Be sure to follow the FLORIDA TODAY Space Team for the latest from Cape Canaveral.
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX rocket launches from Florida as weather system forms offshore
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