KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — SpaceX may not have had a moonbound rocket on the pad, but it did manage its second launch of the year from the Space Coast on Sunday afternoon.
United Launch Alliance, which is targeting the moon, was set to lift off with its first launch of the year about nine hours later.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 more of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites carved up the dying blue skies at sunset with a 5:35 p.m. Eastern liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.
The first-stage booster made its 16th flight, having previously flown on two crewed and two cargo missions to the International Space Station, among others. SpaceX managed another recovery landing of the first stage downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
It marks the second launch for SpaceX from the Space Coast and third for the year for the company, which has also flown once from California. SpaceX officials have said 2024 could see as many as 12 launches per month, or 144 for the year. In 2023, Elon Musk’s company flew 96 orbital missions among Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from its Florida and California facilities.
Meanwhile, United Launch Alliance, which flew only three times in 2023, is gearing up for the first-ever launch of its new Vulcan Centaur rocket on the Certification-1 mission from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 41 during a 45-minute window that opens at 2:18 a.m. Eastern on Monday.
The countdown for that flight began at 3:58 p.m. Eastern on Sunday at T-minus 8 hours, 50 minutes, although that countdown features built-in holds: one 30-minute hold before fueling at T-minus 4 hours, 30 minutes, and a second 60-minute hold before terminal count at T-minus 7 minutes. Live updates at ulalaunch.com will begin at 8 p.m. Eastern, while NASA will provide video coverage starting at 1:30 a.m. Eastern on nasa.gov.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts an 85 percent chance for good conditions, with chances dropping to a 30 percent chance in the event of a 24-hour delay and 45 percent if delayed 48 hours.
The replacement for its Atlas V and Delta IV family of rockets, the new Vulcan is set to send up a commercial lunar lander named Peregrine from Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology as the first of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions.
Also flying and attached to the Centaur upper stage and headed for a permanent deep space orbit are the partial remains and DNA of more than 150 people — including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and actors James “Scotty” Doohan, Nichelle “Lt. Uhura” Nichols and DeForest “Dr. McCoy” Kelly — as part of Celestis Inc.’s Enterprise Flight. Once at its final destination, the stage will become Enterprise Station.
If all goes well, it could be the first of six Vulcan flights on ULA’s manifest for 2024. ULA will also fly nine more Atlas V rockets and the final Delta IV Heavy mission.
The 16 missions would match its record set in 2009. Combined with SpaceX and a possible NASA launch of the Space Launch System on the Artemis II mission from Kennedy Space Center, the Space Coast is on target to surpass its 2023 record of 72 launches.
