SpaceX defied weather odds to launch a Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral.

The American spacecraft manufacturer achieved a remarkable feat by navigating through challenging weather conditions to launch the first of two planned Starlink missions from Cape Canaveral within a 48-hour window.

The launch took place from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday March 23 at 11:09 p.m. EDT (0309 UTC on Sunday), with another Falcon 9 slated for launch from nearby pad 40 on Monday.

Despite forecasts from the 45th Weather Squadron indicating a 75-percent chance of acceptable weather, concerns lingered regarding high winds and the cumulus cloud rule associated with lightning risks.

SpaceX delayed the mission until nearly the end of the launch window on Saturday to ensure optimal conditions.

Originally scheduled for Friday evening, the mission faced cancellation due to adverse weather conditions.

The decision to scrub the launch came Friday afternoon, just as the rocket was rolling out of the hangar at launch complex 39A. The Falcon 9 was not raised vertically until late Friday night.

The Falcon 9 first stage, marking its record-tying 19th flight, successfully landed on the drone ship ‘Just Read the Instructions' approximately eight and a half minutes into the flight.

Following two burns of the rocket's second stage, 23 second-generation Starlink satellites were deployed into orbit around one hour and five minutes after launch.

Another batch of Starlink satellites is scheduled for launch from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral on Monday, with more missions planned later in the week from SpaceX's West Coast launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

As of March 22, 2024, SpaceX boasts 2.3 million subscribers in over 70 countries for its Starlink internet service, with 5,634 satellites remaining in orbit and 5,564 operating normally, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.