Update 5:49 a.m. EST (1049 UTC): The first stage booster has successfully landed on the drone ship.

SpaceX has completed the first of three planned Falcon 9 rocket launches over the next two days, including two Starlink flights and a customer mission.

Notably, the trio’s first mission, Starlink 6-70, saw a first stage booster complete its 24th flight, a new launch record.

Launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred at 5:13 a.m. EST (1013 UTC) on Wednesday, December 4.



Heading into the launch window, the 45th Weather Squadron predicted fairly pristine conditions. Launch weather officials said there should be a greater than 95 percent chance of favorable weather at launch and did not cite any specific meteorological concerns.

“Cool and windy conditions are expected early and mid this week as high pressure prevails before a weak cold front moves through on Friday,” the written forecasts said. “Cold northern air flowing over the Gulf Stream is expected to spur the development of marine stratocumulus on Wednesday morning, which could approach the coast but pose no threat to the initial launch attempt.”

The SpaceX first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1067, cemented its position as launch leader as it lifted off for the 24th time. It previously supported four missions to the International Space Station (Crew-3, Crew-4, CRS-22 and CRS-25), the European Commission’s Galileo-L13 mission and twelve previous Starlink flights.

The Starlink 6-70 mission placed the Falcon 9 rocket on a southeasterly trajectory. Just over eight minutes after launch, B1067 landed on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.

This was the 88th booster landing on ASOG and the 378th booster landing to date.

SpaceX will continue the Starlink 6-70 mission with the launch of the Starlink 9-14 mission Wednesday evening from Vandenberg Space Force Base and the launch of the SiriusXM-9 satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center late Thursday morning.