SpaceX launches Falcon 9 on Saturday morning from Cape, postpones second mission to Sunday

After a Friday scrub, SpaceX crews sent a Falcon 9 rocket vaulting into low-Earth orbit amid Saturday morning sunshine from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

"And, liftoff. Go Starlink. Go Falcon. Go direct-to-cell," SpaceX's launch announcer said during the 230-foot rocket's fiery ascent from Launch Complex 40.

Thirteen of the 21 Starlink broadband satellites atop the rocket feature the company's direct-to-cell capabilities. According to a Saturday SpaceX tweet, these capabilities "enable ubiquitous access to texting, calling, and browsing wherever you may be on land, lakes, or coastal waters."

In a scheduling shuffle, SpaceX had also targeted a second Falcon 9 for launch at 9:03 a.m. Saturday from pad 39A at nearby NASA's Kennedy Space Center, per SpaceX's website.

But instead, that Starlink 10-7 mission was rescheduled to 7:21 a.m. Sunday. FLORIDA TODAY Photographer/Videographer Craig Bailey reported that rocket remained horizontal at its launch pad for hours Saturday morning.

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The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex opened its gates early at 8:15 a.m. Saturday to accommodate launch spectators for the Starlink 8-3 mission. Spectators could watch the liftoff from the Atlantis North Lawn about 6.7 miles from the pad, where the rocket becomes visible once it clears the tree line.

SpaceX postponed Friday's launch try because of poor booster recovery conditions. After Saturday's liftoff and stage separation, the rocket booster landed on the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions offshore in the Atlantic Ocean — wrapping up its 21st flight.

The much-traveled booster previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, mPOWER-a, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Merah Putih 2 and 11 Starlink missions.

For the latest news and launch schedule from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX crews launch Falcon 9 rocket Saturday on Starlink 8-3 mission