SpaceX got Falcon 9 to work right at the beginning of tonight’s launch window when it launched the Starlink 6-51 mission at 5:26 PM EDT into the bluebird skies of the Space Coast. The payload was another 23 Starlink satellites to join the company’s ever-growing constellation of thousands of satellites in low-Earth orbit that provide Internet service to underserved areas globally.

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Booster B1062’s 20th Ascent Path
Seen from FL 528W in Cape Canaveral. Fishermen were lighting the edges of the river and enjoying the weather as much as the crowd that gathered there to watch the liftoff.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 tonight from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and sent another twenty-three Starlink satellites to orbit. Liftoff occurred at 09:22 PM EDT on a crisp, clear spring evening on the Space Coast.

Crowds were heavier than normal along the usual spectator spots, and no one left disappointed — long after staging and for almost seven minutes the second stage could be seen rising and building orbital speed.

As one man said to someone beside me, “Enjoy this, [it] won’t be long until the air is thick and hot as soup.” He’s right. If anything, Friday’s weather was one of the last of Florida spring weather: cool, but not cold with pinpoint stars and crescent moon lighting the sky. It won’t be long until humidity rises and the nightly costal front storms will be a concern for mission managers and launch spectators alike.

Note: Story and photographs are by Charles Boyer, and were originally published at Talk of Titusville

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On April 7, the day before the Total Solar Eclipse, we were in Austin and stopped by a nightly event that’s really a fun time: watching tens of thousands of bats coming out at dusk to start the night-shift of bug hunting. The event cost nothing, and we found a free parking space not far away and just sat on a rock on the Colorado River. If you’re ever in Austin, I highly recommend this.

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Note: I could not attend this launch, as I was traveling to Texas for the solar eclipse. I was accredited press, however, and was able to photograph the rocket on a few occasions prior to its launch on April 9, 2004. Words and photos were originally published by me at Talk of Titusville and are reprinted here by permission.

United Launch Alliance is planning to launch the final launch of Delta IV Heavy on Thursday from SLC-37 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch window extends from 1:40 PM – 6:51 PM EDT. NROL-70 is a mission is set to carry a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, an agency of the United States Department of Defense.

This will be the 16th Delta IV Heavy launch, the 39th orbital launch attempt from SLC-37 and the 941st from Cape Canaveral.

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Solar prominences seen just as totality ended. There were thin, high clouds in between the camera and the eclipse, giving an even more ethereal look.

The Total Solar Eclipse was quite the adventure for Maggie and I: nearly twelve hours and 900-odd miles of driving in one day, with the middle half of the trip hope spent under a thunderstorm that was pacing the same route we were driving. It was worth every mile, and we escaped missing the eclipse beneath thick clouds.

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