Created 6-Jan-23
Modified 13-Dec-23
from floridatoday.com...
Launch activity from Florida's Space Coast promises to be plentiful this year and it all kicked off Tuesday morning. A SpaceX Falcon 9 roared to life at 9:56 a.m., leaping off of Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, taking with it 114 customer payloads to orbit.
The Falcon 9 flew a southeasterly trajectory along the coast of Florida, skirting between the state and the Bahamas. Shortly after liftoff, ringing in the first launch of the new year with sonic booms, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster somersaulted for a return landing at the Cape's Landing Zone 1. The successful landing marked the completion of a record-tying fifteenth mission for the booster.
Tuesday's Transporter-6 rideshare mission was the sixth for SpaceX's Transporter program. The rideshare missions feature payload dispensers to host and deploy many small satellites into similar orbits. SpaceX designed the program as a dedicated way to split costs and make small satellite launching services more affordable for more customers.
The slew of dispensers and small satellites safely tucked inside the protective nosecone would be deployed over the course of about an hour and a half following liftoff.
© Dennis Huff
