SpaceX sent another group of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit early this evening from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral. Liftoff was at 5:10 PM EDT under stiff breezes and crystal blue skies.
SpaceX, Falcon 9, Starlink 6-61, October 23, 2024
SpaceX, Falcon 9, Starlink 8-19, October 19, 2024

SpaceX and Falcon 9 lofted another twenty Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral into low Earth orbit tonight. Liftoff was at 7:31 PM EDT.
Around 8.5 minutes after liftoff, Booster B1076 touched down safely on the company’s drone ship ‘Just Read The Instructions’ to complete its seventeenth mission successfully, while the second stage and payload continued to Earth orbit.
NASA/SpaceX, Falcon Heavy, Europa Clipper, October 14, 2024
SpaceX, Falcon 9, ESA Hera, October 7, 2024
Ever the masters of threading the weather needle, SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 on its way to orbit and the Hera probe on its way to the Didymos binary asteroid system impacted by NASA’s DART probe on September 26, 2022. Hera will return to the system for further investigations, including deploying two small landers.

The Big Vent
ULA, Vulcan, Cert-2, October 4, 2024

United Launch Alliance successfully launched its second Vulcan rocket this morning from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral. The launch was not a perfect one, however, as Vulcan survived a very close call when one of the two solid-rocket boosters on the first stage partially failed and lost its nozzle in flight.
Despite a partial loss of thrust from the errant SRB, ULA’s flight software and engineering teams were able to make corrections to trajectory of the rocket as it continued to ascent.







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