A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to begin the Starlink 10-59 mission. Image: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now
Update Oct. 7, 3:08 a.m. EDT (0708 UTC): SpaceX landed its first stage booster.
SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket launch from Florida in more than a week in the predawn hours of Tuesday morning. The launch gap was highlighted by a run of persistent, daily storms in Central Florida and over the Atlantic Ocean.
The Starlink 10-59 mission will add 28 more broadband internet satellites into the growing megaconstellation. Prior to this launch, SpaceX has more than 8,500 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit, according to astronomer an expert orbital tracker, Jonathan McDowell.
SpaceX executed liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:46 a.m. EDT (0646 UTC).
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 65 percent chance for favorable weather during the launch window. Meteorologists’ primary concerns are related to liftoff winds and cumulus clouds.
“Although deep tropical moisture will likely enhance shower activity during the day, that activity should diminish by window opening and the main concern for Tuesday morning’s launch attempt is liftoff winds, which may periodically exceed threshold,” launch weather officers wrote.
SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster B1090, which launched for an eighth time. Its previous missions include Crew-10, CRS-33 and Bandwagon-3.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1090 performed an automated landing on the drone ship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ This was the 127th landing on this vessel and the 515th booster landing to date.