SpaceX Starlink launch breaks record for Florida spaceport
Monday's liftoff was the 94th launch of an orbital class rocket in the state, breaking the previous record set at the end of last year.
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A timed exposure of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as it launches 29 Starlink satellites on mission 6-87 at 10:21p.m. EST from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., on Monday. This is the first launch to comply with the FAA mandate to limit commercial launch activity between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The SpaceX launch of 29 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit Monday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station broke an annual launch record for Florida's spaceport.
Monday's liftoff was the 94th launch of an orbital class rocket in the state, breaking the previous record set at the end of last year.
"Engines full power and lift off. Go SpaceX. Go Starlink," mission control said Monday as the rocket lifted off at 10:21 p.m. EST.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 29 Starlink satellites on mission 6-87 at 10:21 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., on Monday. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
The commercial launch, which added 29 Starlink Internet satellites to the orbital constellation, had been scheduled for earlier in the day, but was delayed until after 10 p.m., due to a shortage of air traffic controllers during the government shutdown.
Florida's spaceport -- which covers NASA's Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station -- has seen a significant increase in the number of launches over the last five years, especially with the frequency of flights by SpaceX. The only other rockets to launch from Florida this year were Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket and three ULA Atlas V rockets.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 29 Starlink satellites on mission 6-87 at 10:21 p.m. EST from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., on Monday. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
For Monday's record-breaking launch, SpaceX used a newer booster. It was the third flight for the first-stage booster B1096, which also launched KF-01 for Amazon's Project Kuiper and NASA's IMAP rideshare mission earlier this year.
The first-stage booster conducted an autonomous landing just over eight minutes after liftoff on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
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