After the launch was postponed on Tuesday due to “unfavorable weather conditions,” the company’s Falcon 9 rocket SpaceXtook off successfully, at 5:47 pm, on Wednesday from Cape Canaveral, in the state of Florida.
Both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the official SpaceX portal broadcast, live, the unique moment in which the aircraft’s thrusters were turned on to begin its mission heading into space.
SpaceX, the company founded by Elon Muskwas scheduled to launch at 6:56 pm last Tuesday. However, the takeoff was delayed twice until the company finally determined that it would be postponed because weather conditions were not ideal to allow the capture of the rocket once it returned to Earth.
The launch schedule, initially scheduled yesterday by SpaceX, promised to be an astronomical spectacle for Puerto Rico. The Caribbean Astronomy Society (SAC) anticipated that the bright trail of the aircraft would illuminate the sky during its trajectory towards space.
Given the change in schedule, the educational entity maintained that “If it were launched this Wednesday, at least close to dusk, it would still be visible from the island”.
However, the SAC scientific communicator, Eddie Irizarry Robles, indicated to The New Day what is It is unlikely that the rocket was sighted from Puerto Rico since, when launched during sunset, it is not possible to perceive the contrast between the sky and the aircraft’s wake.
“They are going to continue launching satellites and the time will come when we will see another one,” he added.
The Falcon 9 transported another group of 23 satellites from Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX that provides satellite internet service, into space.
Why are these launches usually seen from Puerto Rico?
Since the beginning of 2020, the company began launching its rockets towards Puerto Rico. This not only allowed the satellites to be placed in the desired orbit, but also provided an advantage: recovering the first stage of the rocket.
In previous interview with The New Day, Irizarry Robles, He explained that, during this stage, the rocket appears as if it were descending in reverse, so a robotic boat or platform must be placed to receive it. In the past, these boats were located in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean towards the northeast.
However, when SpaceX decided to launch in the direction of Puerto Rico, it calculated that, if they located these platforms in calmer waters, such as those in the direction of the Bahamas Islands, the robotic boat would be more established, so there would be greater probability of recovering the first stage of the rocket.