TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The second time was the charm for SpaceX. The company successfully launched its Transporter-2 mission from the Florida coast on Wednesday after an aircraft in the area forced the company to scrub its initial attempt.
Transporter-2 was just about 11 seconds away from lifting off from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday afternoon when SpaceX had to quickly scrub the launch. Founder and CEO Elon Musk later tweeted that it was due to an aircraft in the “keep out zone.”
“There is simply no way that humanity can become a spacefaring civilization without major regulatory reform,” he said, voicing his frustration on Twitter after the scrub. “The current regulatory system is broken.”
The company made another attempt on Wednesday afternoon and successfully launched the mission on a Falcon 9 rocket.
The Transporter-2 mission is SpaceX’s second dedicated SmallSat Rideshare Program mission. This mission will send 85 commercial and government spacecraft into orbit, including CubeSats, microsats and orbital transfer vehicles. Three Starlink satellites will also be on board.
Less than 10 minutes after launch, SpaceX successfully landed Falcon 9’s first stage on Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral. According to SpaceX, it was the eight launch and landing of that Falcon 9 since its first flight a year ago.
