"Tonight's launch is an especially exciting one. It’s SpaceX’s first polar orbit launch from the Cape – meaning that on its way to space, Falcon 9 will fly south along the eastern coast of Florida," SpaceX said on Twitter, where the Sunday launch was broadcast live.
Tonight's launch is an especially exciting one. It’s SpaceX’s first polar orbit launch from the Cape – meaning that on its way to space, Falcon 9 will fly south along the eastern coast of Florida
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 30, 2020
Falcon 9 launch webcast is now live https://t.co/HEHx2GY245
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 30, 2020
The SAOCOM 1B mission lifted off at 7:18 p. m. EDT (23:18 GMT) on Sunday. Another planned Falcon 9 launch was cancelled on Sunday because of bad weather.
"Standing down from today’s launch of Starlink due to inclement weather during pre-flight operations. Next launch opportunity is Tuesday, September 1 at 9:29 a.m. EDT, pending Range acceptance," SpaceX said on Twitter.
The Sunday mission intends to put the Argentine SAOCOM 1B remote sensing satellite into orbit around Earth's poles. Two other, American, satellites (GNOMES 1 and Tyvak 0172) were also added to the flight, which is the first polar launch from Florida since 1969.
Later in the day, SpaceX announced that "Falcon 9’s first stage returns to Earth and lands at Landing Zone 1".
After launching SAOCOM 1B and two rideshare payloads to orbit, Falcon 9’s first stage returns to Earth and lands at Landing Zone 1 — completing SpaceX’s first polar orbit mission from Florida pic.twitter.com/dOeZEaKFAR
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 31, 2020
