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SpaceX capped off 2023 with not one but two rocket launches, bringing its total number of blast-offs to 98 in 2023.
The first SpaceX mission to take to the skies Thursday (Dec. 28) was a Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the U.S. military's secretive X-37B space plane, designed mission USSF-52. That blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 GMT on Dec. 29). This marked the second Falcon Heavy flight of 2023.
Second up on the launch docket for Thursday, hours later, was a Falcon 9 liftoff carrying 23 SpaceX Starlink units to low Earth orbit from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This launch took place at 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 GMT on Dec. 29). This was SpaceX's 98th and final launch of 2023, and the 96th flight for a Falcon 9 rocket this year.
Related: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket launches mysterious X-37B space plane for US Space Force after delays
SpaceX took to X, formerly Twitter, to celebrate the successful launch of the USSF-52 mission from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A), with a series of stunning images.
Falcon Heavy launches USSF-52 to orbit from Florida pic.twitter.com/DC269EmaLhDecember 29, 2023
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SpaceX's 97th launch overall for this year marked the seventh flight for X-37B, but the first time the space plane hitched a lift atop a Falcon Heavy rocket. The X-37B/Falcon Heavy launch had been scrubbed several times previously due to bad weather and an issue with ground equipment.
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The launch of 23 Starlink broadband satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida that capped off 2023 was also the 96th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket during this year.
SpaceX also posted images of this launch to its X feed.
Falcon 9 launches 23 @Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida on our 96th, and final, Falcon launch of 2023 pic.twitter.com/6UG302q8jVDecember 29, 2023
SpaceX's next launch is targeted for Jan. 2, 2024 and will see a further 21 Starlink satellites lift to orbit to join the over 5,500 internet supplying units currently orbiting Earth.