Q&A with Elon Musk after SpaceX’s first rocket landing

Just one day after a mission from a nearby launch pad, SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket Monday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ahead of the company’s next flight. Faced with extreme weather this week in the ocean recovery zone for the Falcon 9’s first stage booster and payload shroud, SpaceX said it was evaluating the best opportunity to launch the Falcon 9 with 60 Starlink broadband satellites.

The mission launched after a six-day delay. Liftoff of the Starlink 15-3 mission from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 5:19 p.m. PDT (8:19 p.m. EDT, 0019 UTC).

The mission is the first that will populate the 13th group of Starlink satellites in SpaceX’s megaconstellation. Liftoff from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center happened at 12:24 a.m. EST (0524 UTC).