Falcon 9 lifts off, carrying 60 Starlink satellites - the first operational batch. This was the fourth flight for this booster, which is why it looks so dang dirty. Over the coming months, SpaceX will continue launching more, until there are enough to offer global internet coverage through receivers the size of a pizza box, as they put it.
This launch of the Atlas V 551 was awesome. That thing leaped off the pad! I watched from the beach near my apartment in Cocoa Beach and got to meet some fellow Tennesseans from Chattanooga who had never seen a launch before. They were on their way to Miami to get on a cruise and heard there was a launch, so they got a room. That’s so cool to me. And as I often tell tourists who just happen to be here during a launch, they won the vacation lottery! Millions of people pass through here every year, and only a small percentage get to witness a launch. I love getting to see people’s excitement when they see a launch for the first time!
So far, February 6th, 2018 has been my favorite day since moving to the Space Coast. There were so many people in town for the debut of Falcon Heavy, it was just pure insanity. Look at all those people on the pier at Jetty Park! I met a lot of space fans from around the US and the world. The launch went off without a hitch, carrying Elon Musk's personal Tesla Roadster with Starman in the driver seat out beyond Mars orbit. This photo shows the two side boosters coming down for a simultaneous landing on LZ-1 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, just a few miles south of LC-39A, where it launched from. Photo taken from the beach about a mile south of Port Canaveral.
