SpaceX rocket launches on Starlink mission after hours of delay Wednesday at Cape Canaveral

Rick Neale, Florida Today
Updated ·2 min read

Liftoff took three hours and 42 minutes longer than anticipated. But a thrice-delayed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket finally launched from pad 39A during a balmy Wednesday afternoon at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX had originally scheduled the Starlink 6-56 mission launch for 11 a.m. EDT, but three postponements pushed the Falcon 9's fiery liftoff back to 2:42 p.m. The rocket carried 23 Starlink satellites up into low-Earth orbit.

"Blue seas and blue skies for Falcon 9 landing," SpaceX officials said in a tweet after the rocket's first-stage booster returned to Earth and touched down atop the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.

Cape Canaveral: Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule in Florida

The booster had previously launched Crew-8 in March and a Starlink mission, SpaceX reported. So Wednesday's flight marked its third mission.

During the multi-hour-delay waiting period, the mercury reached 90 degrees — with the heat index soaring to 96 — at adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, the National Weather Service reported.

The May 8 SpaceX Falcon 9 launches from pad 39A, as seen from the beach across from Patrick Space Force Base.
The May 8 SpaceX Falcon 9 launches from pad 39A, as seen from the beach across from Patrick Space Force Base.

On that note, Brevard County announced a burn ban shortly after noon, prohibiting bonfires, campfires and open burning amid ongoing dry weather conditions that boost wildfire risks.

Southeast of pad 39A, United Launch Alliance crews rolled the Boeing Starliner capsule and its Atlas V rocket back to the company's Vertical Integration Facility at nearby Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

ULA plans to replace a troublesome liquid-oxygen self-regulating solenoid relief valve on the rocket's Centaur upper stage in the wake of Monday's scrub. Now, the new Starliner launch target is no earlier than 6:16 p.m. May 17. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will ascend to the International Space Station during the maiden crewed mission of the Starliner spacecraft.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Boeing's Starliner capsule roll back to ULA's Vertical Integration Facility on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket and Boeing's Starliner capsule roll back to ULA's Vertical Integration Facility on Wednesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

SpaceX is targeting its next Starlink launch from the Cape on Mother's Day, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warning shows.

  • Mission: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

  • Launch window: 8:11 p.m. Sunday to 12:42 a.m. Monday

  • Location: Launch Complex 40.

  • Trajectory: Southeast.

  • Local sonic boom: No.

  • Booster landing: Drone ship out on the Atlantic Ocean.

  • Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Delayed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket finally launches Wednesday from Florida

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