The Obama administration has requested more than $1.2 billion from congressional appropriators next year to meet NASA’s funding commitments for Boeing and SpaceX’s commercial crew ferry spacecraft, and anything less could delay flights of the capsules past 2017.
The mission will be the first dedicated Starlink flight of the year. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened on Monday, Jan. 6, at 3:43 p.m. EST (2043 UTC).
SpaceX took a group of reporters and photographers just offshore the Falcon 9 rocket’s landing point Tuesday, a day after the 15-story booster made a pinpoint touchdown after helping send 11 communications satellites into orbit.