SLC-40

Falcon 9 Booster B1076 lifts off of SLC-40 on February 29, 2024 to start the Starlink 6-40 mission.

While Crew-8’s Falcon 9 sits on Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center this morning waiting for weather to improve along its launch corridor, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying 23 more Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites to low-Earth orbit from its other launch pad on the Eastern Range at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Liftoff at 10:30 AM EST under almost-overcast skies, with the rocket completely disappearing 10-15 seconds after liftoff when it entered the cloud deck and rose towards orbit. About 8.5 minutes later, Booster B1076 completed its 12th mission and landed safely offshore on the company’s autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) Just Read The Instructions.

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Falcon 9 Booster B1069 in flight with Starlink 6-39 on February 25, 2024

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 today from Pad SLC-40 and sent another twenty-four Starlink satellites to orbit. Liftoff occurred at 5:06 PM EST on what might best be described as a “travel brochure day” — crystal clear skies, with a light breeze and temperatures in the high 60s. In other words, the sort of winter day in Florida draws many tourists because the weather is darn near perfect.

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SpaceX successfully launched the HTS 113BT telecommunications satellite to orbit from Cape Canaveral this afternoon at 3:11 PM EST for Indonesian company PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk. Around eight and one-half minutes later, Booster 1067 safely touched down on SpaceX’s Automated Spaceport Droneship “Just Read The Instructions,” (JRTI) which was located offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

For more in-depth coverage of the launch, go here: SpaceX Launches HT-113BT Satellite; Booster Lands Safely

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Falcon 9 lifting off with NASA’s PACE satellite aboard. Photo: Charles Boyer

After two delays due to high winds, SpaceX launched the PACE Earth-observing satellite to orbit from Cape Canaveral this morning. Seven and one half minutes later, Booster 1081 announced its return to the Space Coast with a sonic boom moments after safely touching down, completing its fourth flight.

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SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying the Northrup Grumman NG-20 mission towards ISS this afternoon. The launch was at 12:07 PM EST from the company’s launch pad at SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and once it had completed its part of the mission, Booster 1077 completed its tenth flight when it safely touched down at Landing Zone 1, about 5.6 miles to the south of where it launched a little more than eight minutes earlier.

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Timelapse of SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Starlink 6-33 to orbit as seen from Titusville’s Rotary Park on December 28, 2023. 

Less than three hours after SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy lifted off tonight at Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A, the company launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-40 carrying the Starlink 6-36 mission. Falcon Heavy lifted off at 8:07pm local time, and two hours and forty-eight minutes later, Falcon 9 roared off its pad at 11:01pm. Roughly eight and one-half minutes later, the booster used for this flight successfully touched down aboard the droneship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ near the Bahamas, marking SpaceX’s third successful booster soft-landing of the night.

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Timelapse of SpaceX Falcon9 carrrying Starlink 6-34 to orbit on December 18, 2023.
photo: Charles Boyer

fter eight days of bad weather cleared from Space Coast skies, SpaceX got right back to work and sent a Falcon 9 to orbit from Pad SLC-40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Monday evening. Tonight’s payload was another 33 Starlink satellites with the mission designation Starlink 6-34.

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Timelapse of SpaceX Starlink 6-31 Aboard Booster 1078.
Photo ©2023 Charles Boyer


SpaceX launched another group of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Saturday evening. The mission, designated as Starlink 5-31, added more Starlink satellites into the burgeoning constellation of over 5,500 small satellites providing Internet access from virtually anywhere globally. The launch occurred at the start of the launch window on a mostly cloudy, humid Florida evening at 11:00 PM Eastern Standard Time.

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