A quick look at which rockets lift off from various Brevard launch sites.
Nearly two hours before sunrise Monday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket illuminated the sky above Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, accompanied by a waning crescent moon and pristine meteorological launch conditions.
SpaceX's Starlink 12-1 liftoff from Launch Complex 40 carried 23 internet satellites -- including a dozen engineered with direct-to-cell communications capabilities -- up into low-Earth orbit.
"@Starlink Direct to Cell network delivers seamless access to texting, voice and data on phones across the globe," SpaceX officials tweeted five minutes before the 5:02 a.m. EST Falcon 9 launch.
Monday's early morning mission occurred 17½ hours before a second SpaceX Starlink launch window was scheduled to open that night, navigational warnings show. That 4½-hour Starlink 6-76 window spanned from 10:31 p.m. to 3:02 a.m. Tuesday from pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
Monday's morning liftoff clocked in as the 83rd of the year thus far from Florida's Space Coast.
In a Friday tweet, SpaceX President of Launch Kiko Dontchev noted how times have changed since the first-ever Falcon 9 launch in June 2010 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
"Over 50% of all Falcon launches have occurred in the past two years despite first flight happening 14 years ago," he said in the tweet.
Dontchev noted the recent infrequency in which SpaceX uses a new rocket or even a low-flight booster, say with two to five previous flights. Monday's Falcon 9 first-stage booster logged its 13th flight.
"Starlink has done more than bringing internet to anywhere on Earth. It's truly driven a step function towards aircraft like operations with rockets," Dontchev said in the tweet.
The Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron had pegged the odds of "go for launch" weather for Monday's mission at greater than 95%, an infrequently positive forecast.
The predawn liftoff marked the Falcon 9 first-stage booster's 13th flight, SpaceX reported. The booster previously launched Euclid, Axiom-2, Axiom-3, Cygnus NG-21, SES 24, CRS-30 and six Starlink missions.
Following stage separation, the booster landed on the SpaceX drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
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