SpaceX lights up Cape Canaveral with Starlink launch – Orlando Sentinel

SpaceX sent up another Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral on Sunday evening.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Internet satellites lifted off at 8:52 p.m. from Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at Canaveral on a southerly trajectory illuminating the Florida coast.

Leaves! pic.twitter.com/ChcZ89flRh

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2024

The first stage booster flew on its twelfth mission and landed the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone in the Atlantic Ocean.

This was the fourth launch from the Space Coast in 2024, all from Cape Canaveral so far. SpaceX has launched three of them while United Launch Alliance has conducted the first mission of its new Vulcan Centaur spacecraft.

Axiom Space's flight this week to the International Space Station marks the first crewed launch of the year

SpaceX launched Kennedy Space Center's first launch of the year on Wednesday evening. The Axiom Space Ax-3 mission with a crew of four flying aboard the Crew Dragon is also the first of what could be a banner year for crewed launches from the Space Coast with as many as six human spaceflight missions planned before the end of 2024.

SpaceX, including its California launches, has as many as 144 missions planned for this year. It has already launched twice from Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2024, so Sunday's Starlink mission marks the fifth of the year.