CAPE CANAVERSAL SPACE FORCE STATION — Despite two delays, SpaceX was able to successfully launch two O3b mPOWER broadband internet satellites early Friday evening.

What You Need To Know

  • The two satellites will provide internet communications

  • 🔻Scroll down to watch the launch🔻

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched O3b mPOWER 1 and 2 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at around 5:48 p.m. EST. 

The rocket's first-stage booster landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas which is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, SpaceX confirmed. However, there was no live video of the landing which is common for SpaceX's first-stage boosters.

The liftoff was supposed to be much earlier. The 87-minute launch window was supposed to open at 4:21 p.m. EST, then SpaceX set a new target at 5:21 p.m. EST and then finally, 5:48 p.m. EST. The private company did not tweet out why the launch times changed. 

The 45th Weather Squadron gave 90% good launch weather as the Falcon 9 sent the satellites to a medium Earth orbit.

The Falcon 9’s first-stage booster, B1067, has been used on the following missions:

Friday marks two launches in one day for SpaceX. Over at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, early Friday morning, SpaceX sent up the SWOT (Surface Water and Ocean Topography) satellite.

Its mission is to chart the location and speed of growing sea levels and the change of coastlines.

SpaceX was going to launch some Starlink satellites minutes after the original O3b mPOWER mission launch time, but the Starlink satellites will be sent up on Saturday afternoon.

About the mission

The two satellites are from the company SES, a Luxembourgish-French satellite telecommunications company.

O3b mPOWER 1 and 2 are part of the company’s second-generation satellites and “… will deliver high-performance connectivity services to enterprises and governments around the world,” the company stated in a press release. 

Watch the launch

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