Lather, rinse, repeat: SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 carrying the Starlink 12-5 mission shortly after midnight this morning. Liftoff was at 12:10 AM EST from Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral and into cool, clear, star-studded skies over the Space Coast.

Around 8.3 minutes later, Falcon 9 touched down offshore on ASDS ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’, successfully concluding its 2nd mission. ‘A Shortfall Of Gravitas’ had been pre-positioned offshore downrange and will now return to Port Canaveral where the booster will be returned to SpaceX’s Hangar X for inspection and, presumably, preparation for its 3rd flight.

It is believed that the booster used for this morning’s flight is B1086, which was first used as a side-booster for the Falcon Heavy GOES-U launch earlier this year, but SpaceX only stated “This is the second flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched GOES-U.”

Spectators who lined the usual spots in Cape Canaveral, Titusville and other Space Coast locations were able to watch Falcon 9 for quite a long while in the clear skies: from 528 West at the Banana River Bridge, Falcon 9’s second stage was visible for at least 6.5 minutes after launch, while the booster Entry Burn was in plain sight for the entirety of that phase of flight. Such are winter night launches into dry air and clear skies.

Payload

On their mission web page, SpaceX stated that tonight’s payload was “23 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capability.”

Those satellites will join the nearly 7,000 other Starlink satellites as part of SpaceX’s internet connectivity service serving over 4 million customers in more than 100 countries world-wide.

Launch Replay

By The Numbers

• 60th launch from SLC-40 this year
• 991st Cape Canaveral launch
• 129th SpaceX launch in 2024
• 2.7 days between SpaceX launches in 2024
• 441st SpaceX launch all time
• 384th Falcon-family booster landing (includes Falcon Heavy cores)
• 89th landing on A Shortfall Of Gravitas
• 56th consecutive successful Falcon 9 launch

Next Launch

SpaceX is planning to launch the O3b mPower 7 & 8 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 in Cape Canaveral NET Friday, December 13, 2024. The launch window opens at 3:55 PM EST and closes at 5:55 PM the same day.

• Date: NET December 13, 2024
• Organization: SpaceX
• Mission: O3b mPower 7 & 8
• Rocket: Falcon 9
• Launch Site: Space Launch Complex 40, CCSFS
• Launch Window: 3:55 – 5:55 PM EST
• Payload: Telecommunication satellites for SES

Keep in mind that launch dates and times change often. Launch attempts can be scrubbed anytime due to weather, technical reasons, or range conditions.