Saturday night’s launch will be followed by a second Starlink mission from pad 40 that is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday night.
The launch from Saturday from pad 39A was the first of two Falcon 9s SpaceX prepared for quick succession liftoffs.
A second Falcon 9 rocket stands at the Space Launch Complex pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This mission is just a few miles south of Kennedy. And will haul 54 Starlink satellites into low-earth-orbit this week.
Falcon 9 Fleetleader with 14 missions
In the rocket’s upper stage, the Falcon 9s engines were fired five times. A record number of engine burns were needed to deploy AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker 3 satellite. And also 34 Starlink payloads which sent both payloads into separate orbits. The upper stage rocket burned up in Earth’s atmosphere in a planned destructive reentry.
Saturday marked the 14th launch and safe landing of this Falcon 9 first-stage booster. It has previously sent out the Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, and 2 Transporter rideshare missions. And also launched a S. Korean military satellite and now nine Starlink missions into orbit.
