The weather cleared just in time for liftoff, despite the winds howling and the skies over Brevard County appearing unsuitable for a rocket launch on Monday afternoon.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket finally launched at 3:43 p.m. Monday, the end of the day’s designated launch window, following many delays. 24 new Starlink satellites for the ever expanding satellite internet system were its payload.

This Starlink mission was the year’s first Starlink launch and the second launch of 2025.

It was the 17th flight of the first-stage booster. Prior flights include the following: NG-20, a Northrop Grumman Cygnus ISS delivery mission; Intelsat G-37; Optus-X; Immarsat I6-F2; GPS III-6; NASA’s Crew-5; nine Starlink launches; and the CRS-28 resupply mission.

Originally scheduled to launch the Astranis Space Technologies satellites on December 20, the rocket for this mission experienced a rare abort with only seconds remaining on the countdown clock. For that mission, SpaceX switched the rockets, and on December 29, it launched successfully. That booster was back in the air on Monday. SpaceX did not provide an explanation for the booster exchange or the Dec. 20 abort.

The launch date of Blue Origin New Glenn is advanced.
The launch date for Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is still up in the air.

The launch has been rescheduled for Friday at 1 a.m., the Space Coast Office of Tourism reports. All of the times and dates that have been suggested thus far are tentative ones because Blue Origin has not yet made an official statement on a launch date.

But this week, the first-stage landing platform departed Port Canaveral for the Atlantic Ocean, indicating a launch is imminent, in addition to nautical alerts about a potential launch. However, since the rocket’s hot fire test on December 27, Blue Origin has not provided any information.