BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — The second time is the charm for SpaceX as the commercial company launches its 25th Falcon 9 rocket of the year from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.


What You Need To Know

  • Space Coast concludes busy week with 25th Falcon 9 rocket launch this year

  • On Wednesday, VP Pence presented 18 Artemis astronauts

  • Last Sunday a resupply mission launched to the International Space Station

On Sunday, the Falcon 9 blasted off Pad 40 at 12:30 p.m., on board was a SiriusXM radio broadcasting satellite.

It's a whopper -- weighing some 15,000 pounds.​

Once in orbit it will provide entertainment and data services for millions of subscribers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Less than 10 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX landed the Falcon 9 first stage booster on their drone ship "Just Read the Instructions", which was positioned out in the Atlantic Ocean.

The mission bookended a busy week on the Space Coast.

Last Sunday, SpaceX launched the CRS-21 Cargo Dragon on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.​

It's the first time two Dragon spacecraft are parked at the ISS at the same time, the Crew Dragon is there now after the Crew-1 mission launched in mid-November.​

Vice President Mike Pence was at the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, chairing the 8th National Space Council meeting, talking about the United States' effort to get back to the moon under NASA's Artemis Program.​

As the meeting wrapped, the Vice President announced the next cadre of Artemis astronauts, 18 of them.

"My fellow Americans, I give you the heroes of the future who'll carry us back to the moon and beyond, the Artemis generation," Pence told the crowd.

Pence also announced the official newly named Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Patrick Space Force Base, under the Space Force umbrella.

On Thursday, a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy blasted off from Pad 37.

After a loud, fiery launch, a government spy satellite mission is underway -- the classified NROL-44 spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.​​

Sunday's SpaceX launch marked the 30th from our Space Coast in 2020.