Hot on the heels of Tuesday’s successful CRS-27 launch, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 was in action again for a pair of back-to-back missions from both coasts Friday, tasked with deploying communications satellites into orbit.
The first of Friday’s two launches occurred at 12:26 PM PDT (19:26 UTC) from Vandenberg, California, with the 52 satellites of Starlink Group 2-8 aboard. Just over four hours later, the second lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:38 PM EDT (23:38 UTC) carrying a pair of satellites for commercial operator SES.