SpaceX launches Falcon-9 rocket

1804

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (UPI) – SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket successfully Sunday afternoon carrying telecommunication satellites aboard for a Luxembourg-based internet company.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 4.08pm from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida’s east coast, taking Boeing-built O3b mPOWER satellites to medium-Earth orbit for SES.

About eight-and-a-half minutes after lift-off, Falcon 9’s first-stage booster landed aboard a barge, known as “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” in the Atlantic Ocean. The mission marked the ninth flight of the first-stage boosters, which previously launched CRS-26, Starlink and others. The rocket’s upper stage will not be recovered, which is normal for Falcon 9 flights, Space.com reported.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 22 Starlink satellites on mission “6-23” at 8.39pm from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida on October 17. PHOTO: UPI