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SpaceX launches second mission in 2 days from same pad, breaks own record

SpaceX launches second mission in 2 days from same pad, breaks own record

UPIa day ago

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:26 a.m. EDT Saturday. Screenshot from SpaceX
June 28 (UPI) -- SpaceX early Saturday launched another 27 Starlink satellites, breaking it's own record by preparing the launchpad for another liftoff two days after a launch from the same pad in Florida.
The mission went off from Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:26 a.m. EDT. This was just two days, eight hours, 31 minutes and 10 seconds after the launch of a Starlink mission from the same pad, besting a previous SpaceX record set in March by 28 minutes.
Watch Falcon 9 launch 27 @Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida https://t.co/wPutk3tYqY— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 28, 2025
SpaceX also uses a pad at nearby Kennedy Space Station.
The launch occurred despite inclement weather that passed through Florida's Space Coast on Friday night.
The first stage flew for a fifth time, which has included Starlink missions.
About eight minutes after liftoff, the booster landed on the droneship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 115th landing on the drone ship and 469th booster landing since, according to Spaceflight now.
The first droneship landing was on April 8, 2016, on "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Atlantic, which is used in the Pacific Ocean.
Ten years ago on June 28, a Falcon 9 that launched from the Cape Canaveral site broke apart in an explosion during a NASA resupply mission to the International Space Station. The first Falcon 9 launch was five years earlier on June 4, 2010, from Cape Canaveral.
SpaceX's next launch is scheduled for Saturday afternoon from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 with 26 Starlink satellites is set to lift off at 10:13 a.m. PDT.

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