SpaceX knocks out another Space Coast launch

SpaceX kept the launch machine rolling with another Starlink mission from the Space Coast on Thursday morning.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 of the company’s internet satellites lifted off at 8:21 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

The first-stage booster for the mission made its 18th flight with a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship Just Read the Instructions.

This marked the 79th launch on the Space Coast for 2024 with all but five coming from SpaceX.

United Launch Alliance has flown the rest so far, but Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is aiming for the debut launch of its massive New Glenn rocket as soon as the end of this month.

ULA also has two more missions potentially before the end of the year with its new Vulcan rocket.

Next up, though, is another SpaceX launch from Kennedy Space Center as soon as Sunday with a Falcon 9 targeting launch during a 4:39-6:27 p.m. window to send up a geostationary communication satellite built by Northrop Grumman for the Australian company Optus.

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