Posted: Thu, Dec 21, 2023, 2:07 PM ET (1907 GMT)
SpaceX ended an 11-day launch hiatus Monday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 11:01 pm EST (0401 GMT Tuesday) and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the first by SpaceX since another Starlink launch from California early Dec. 8. The gap, the longest between SpaceX launches this year, was linked to a combination of poor weather, technical problems and rescheduling of other launches. The gap likely rules out achieving a goal by SpaceX of performing 100 Falcon launches this year: the company has performed 92 Falcon launches this year with about five more scheduled through the end of the year.