Space X Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral

After being forced to land its Falcon 9 rocket due to strong winds last week, SpaceX launched the rocket from Cape Canaveral on Monday night. At 11:01 PM EST (0401 UTC), the Falcon 9 carrying 23 Starlink satellites lifted off.

Strong winds on Tuesday prevented a launch attempt, and strong waves in the recovery zone caused more delays for this mission. However, on Monday, the winds subsided and the Falcon 9 took off into a cool Florida night sky.

The Falcon 9 will launch from Cape Canaveral's pad 40 and go southeast, aiming for an orbit that is 43 degrees equatorial. Its first stage will split from the second stage after over two and a half minutes of firing its nine Merlin 1D engines. The

The Falcon 9 will launch from Cape Canaveral's pad 40 and go southeast, aiming for an orbit that is 43 degrees equatorial. Its first stage will split from the second stage after over two and a half minutes of firing its nine Merlin 1D engines. The first-stage booster will continue its downward trajectory and land east of the Bahamas on the drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic Ocean.

Tail number B1081 of the Falcon 9 booster for Monday's Starlink 6-34 mission was in its third flight. It has already completed two flights for NASA: a Cargo Dragon on a space station resupply mission 32 days ago in November, and Dragon Endurance with a four-person crew for the International Space Station in August.

The support ship "Bob," named for Crew Dragon Demo-2 astronaut Bob Behnken, was to pick up the rocket's payload fairing halves after they parachuted downrange from the drone ship.

To get into a parking orbit, the second stage's lone vacuum Merlin engine ran for around six minutes. The second-stage engine will restart for a three-second burn to fine-tune the orbit after coasting for roughly forty-five minutes. Implementation