Elon Musk’s SpaceX swooped in Monday to finish Florida’s 94th liftoff of the yr, breaking the state’s yearly file for launches instead of Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origins, which needed to scrap its mission final week.
SpaceX took the historic spot when it launched the newest batch of its Starlink satellites aboard its Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral House Power Station.
The trouble marked the 94th liftoff from Florida thus far this yr, a brand new file that might have gone to Blue Origins on Friday earlier than it was pressured to clean its mission due to poor climate.
Monday’s launch concerned 29 satellites deployed into orbit for Starlink, and whereas it marked Florida’s 94th flight of the yr, it was Falcon 9’s 144th — a brand new private file for SpaceX.
Rival Blue Origins is now hoping to launch its New Glenn rocket into orbit Wednesday, which might mark the rocket’s second-ever flight — and break the state file once more.
The rocket is ready to launch between 2:50 p.m. to 4:17 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Advanced 36, the place Blue Origins has invested $1 billion to rebuild.
As Musk has accomplished together with his SpaceX rockets, Bezos touted his rocket as the way forward for area flight, with the New Glenn missions aimed toward reaching a landmark mission to Mars.
The billionaires are presently competing over whose industrial area enterprise will lead the historic flight to the Pink Planet.
Blue Origin’s upcoming flight may also embrace a little bit of catch-up. as the corporate will try and land its heavy boosters after the launch, one thing SpaceX pulled off final yr.
