Falcon 9
Live coverage: SpaceX launches smallsat rideshare mission into polar orbit
A day after a last-minute scrub caused by an aircraft in restricted airspace, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 3:31 p.m. EDT (1931 GMT) Wednesday from Cape Canaveral. The rocket carried 88 small satellites into polar orbit. The vehicle’s first stage successfully returned to Cape Canaveral for landing about eight-and-a-half minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX launch this week will feature first onshore rocket landing since December
SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket on a southerly coast-hugging trajectory from Cape Canaveral Tuesday to place 88 small satellites into a polar orbit. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will return to Florida’s Space Coast for the first onshore rocket landing at Cape Canaveral since December.
Photos: SpaceX rocket launches, then lands, on Space Force mission
These photos show the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket June 17 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying a GPS navigation satellite into orbit for the U.S. Space Force. Once its job was complete, the rocket’s first stage booster returned to a landing on a SpaceX drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
U.S. Space Force clears reused SpaceX rocket for launch with GPS satellite
Following years of planning, a GPS navigation satellite built by Lockheed Martin will be the first operational U.S. military payload to ride a reused SpaceX booster on a launch from Florida Thursday, laying the groundwork for future national security missions to save money by incorporating recycled rocket parts.