SpaceX chalks up another launch from Cape Canaveral

Richard Tribou, Orlando Sentinel on Feb 21, 2025

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SpaceX knocked out another Starlink launch on Friday morning from the Space Coast.

A Falcon 9 carrying 23 of the internet satellites lifted off at 10:19 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

This marked the 21st launch of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed downrange in the Atlantic.

The mission was the 17th of the year from the Space Coast on track to best the 93 launches seen among all providers in 2024.

The Space Force has said it had projected as many as 156 launches in 2025 among Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral launch pads, an average of 13 a month.

So far SpaceX has flown all but one of the missions this year, with Blue Origin’s New Glenn debut filling out the launch card.

The next KSC launch is set for as early as Wednesday when a Falcon 9 aims to lift off from Launch Pad 39-A targeting 7:17 p.m. on the IM-2 mission.

The moonbound launch is carrying a lunar lander for commercial company Intuitive Machines named Athena. The company managed the first ever soft landing of a commercial lander on the IM-1 mission last year, but it tipped to one side.

The flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, and there’s a chance the Athena lander may beat another lander from Firefly Aerospace named Blue Ghost that launched under the CLPS program on January, but has been taking a long route to the moon. A third commercial lander from Japanese company ispace is also headed to the moon, but won’t arrive until later in the year.

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