SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket into the night on Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral
The Starlink 12-23 mission took off at 10:09 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40 after being moved forward 49 minutes. SpaceX rarely moves launch times forward, and has not revealed a reasoning. The 23 Starlink internet satellites traveled into the night sky on a southeast trajectory.
The well-flown booster was seeing its 20th flight. Previous missions the booster launched include: 12 previous Starlink missions, NASA's Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, NG-20, and TD7.
Just over eight minutes later, the booster landed on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship which was stationed out on the Atlantic Ocean. No Space Coast sonic booms were heard.
Those waiting for another rocket launch do not have to wait much longer, as both ULA and SpaceX have launches scheduled for the start of the week.
When is the next launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA rocket launch schedule at Cape Canaveral
A doubleheader launch day is coming up. First up, the much delayed Kuiper Atlas 1 mission will launch atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 41. The mission is Amazon's first batch of internet satellites, known as Project Kuiper, and is set to launch during a two-hour window which opens at 7 p.m. on April 28.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch its Starlink 12-10 mission later that night. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, that window runs from 9:37 p.m. to 2:08 a.m. (April 29).
Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX rocket launch sends Starlink mission into night from Florida
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
34 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Protecting Immune Cells from Exhaustion
INRS research team makes a promising breakthrough in the fight against chronic infections LAVAL, QC, July 24, 2025 /CNW/ - In fighting chronic infections or certain cancers, CD8+ T cells—the immune system's frontline soldiers—eventually become exhausted. They lose effectiveness and respond less efficiently to threats. This weakening is a major therapeutic challenge, as it limits the body's ability to fight chronic infections. However, the team of Professor Simona Stäger at Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS), in collaboration with colleagues from INRS and McGill University, has identified a key game changer: IRF-5. This transcription factor appears to preserve the energy and vitality of CD8+ T cells by acting directly on their metabolism. These findings, recently published in The EMBO Journal, highlight the importance of fundamental research in understanding the immune system and developing innovative therapeutic approaches. A Key Ally Against T Cell Exhaustion T cell exhaustion is caused by several factors, including an imbalance in internal cell functioning. Normally, T cells shift their energy production to respond quickly to infection. But when they are stimulated for too long—as during chronic infections—their metabolism becomes depleted. They produce fewer cytokines (chemical messengers essential to the immune response), their mitochondria (the cell's energy centres) function less efficiently, and they ultimately lose their effectiveness. In this study, the team used the LCMV Clone 13 virus, a model of chronic infection, to explore the role of IRF-5 in CD8+ T cells. While the role of IRF-5 in other cell types is well known, its function in these immune cells had not been explored until now. "Our results show that IRF-5 acts as a guardian of T cell metabolism and mitochondrial function. It helps T cells maintain their energy and ability to fight, even under prolonged stress."—Simona Stäger, INRS professor and senior author of the study, expert in immunology of infectious diseases, and Vice-director of Infectiopole. The researchers found that the absence of IRF-5 worsens exhaustion. CD8+ T cells lacking IRF-5 showed disrupted lipid metabolism, increased mitochondrial oxidative stress, and reduced oxidative phosphorylation—all factors that impair their function. A Promising Step Toward Better Understanding Immunity This discovery opens the door to new strategies for boosting immunity to chronic infections or cancers, where T cell exhaustion is also observed. "I hope our work will help us better understand how to modulate cellular metabolism to support and enhance immune responses during chronic infections or cancer. IRF-5 transcription factor could play a key role in this approach."—Linh Thuy Mai, lead author of the study, former PhD student in virology and immunology from INRS, currently a postdoctoral fellow at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, United States. Professor Stäger's laboratory is based at the INRS Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie Research Centre, the sole North American member of the Pasteur Network About the Study The article, titled Transcription factor IRF-5 regulates lipid metabolism and mitochondrial function in murine CD8+ T-cells during viral infection, was co-authored by Linh Thuy Mai, Sharada Swaminathan, Trieu Hai Nguyen, Etienne Collette, Tania Charpentier, Liseth Carmona-Pérez, Hamza Loucif, Alain Lamarre, Krista M. Heinonen, David Langlais, Jörg H. Fritz, and Simona Stäger. This research was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Armand-Frappier Foundation, and Fonds de recherche du Québec. About INRS INRS is an academic institution dedicated exclusively to graduate research and training in strategic sectors in Quebec. Since 1969, as per its mission, it has actively contributed to Quebec's economic, social, and cultural development. INRS ranks first in Quebec in research intensity. It is made up of five interdisciplinary research and training centres located in Quebec City, Montreal, Laval, and Varennes, and Charlevoix, which focus their efforts on strategic sectors: water, earth, and environment (Eau Terre Environnement Research Centre); energy, materials, and telecommunications (Énergie Matériaux Télécommunications Research Centre); urbanization, culture, and society (Urbanisation Culture Société Research Centre); and health and biotechnology (Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie Research Centre), and Ruralités durables (a center currently under development). Its community includes nearly 1,500 members, including students, postdoctoral fellows, faculty members, and staff. SOURCE Institut National de la recherche scientifique (INRS) View original content to download multimedia: Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data


Axios
an hour ago
- Axios
OpenAI GPT-5 is coming early next month
OpenAI is expected to release its next big model — GPT-5 — in August, Axios has learned. Why it matters: The race to create the biggest and best AI models is accelerating as the Trump administration has said the U.S. must do " whatever it takes" to beat China. The big picture: GPT-5 was expected earlier, but OpenAI's release plan has shifted several times. CEO Sam Altman posted on X on July 19 that GPT-5 would be released "soon." Then Altman appeared July 23 on Theo Von's podcast, where he praised the abilities of the new model. GPT-5 use is already cropping up in the wild, as testers get their hands on the code and security experts do their red teaming — additional signs that the model is getting close to release. Between the lines: In addition to being better at coding and more powerful overall, GPT-5 is expected to combine the attributes of both traditional models and so-called reasoning models such as o3. Altman clarified that the model OpenAI recently used to achieve gold medal performance at the recent International Mathematical Olympiad would not be included in GPT-5. OpenAI is planning to launch GPT-5 with mini and nano versions that will also be available through its API, according to The Verge, which first reported the new timeline. The intrigue: OpenAI's new open weight model is also coming soon, but could arrive before or after GPT-5 depending on last minute schedule tweaks, Axios has heard.


Gizmodo
an hour ago
- Gizmodo
Is Trump Trying to Get Back in Elon Musk's Good Graces?
Elon Musk and Donald Trump joined forces before the 2024 presidential election to help each other out. Trump needed Musk's money to buy votes and Musk needed Trump to decimate the federal government while making sure contracts with his own companies remained untouched. But the two men had a very messy falling out back in late May, when Musk departed his government role with DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency. But no matter how much the men may bicker in public, they keep trying to signal through their public statements that all is not lost. The men flip back and forth between loving and hating each other in a very public way, issuing their little tweets with petty jabs before tweeting again about how they support what the other is doing. Where does the relationship between the two men stand today? Judging by Trump's post to Truth Social on Thursday, the president wants to make it clear he likes Musk. Well, at least he likes his businesses. 'Everyone is stating that I will destroy Elon's companies by taking away some, if not all, of the large-scale subsidies he receives from the U.S. Government. This is not so! I want Elon, and all businesses within our Country, to THRIVE, in fact, THRIVE like never before!' Trump wrote. 'The better they do, the better the USA does, and that's good for all of us. We are setting records every day, and I want to keep it that way!' Trump continued. What prompted Trump's tweet? It might have something to do with a recent article from the Wall Street Journal that claimed the Trump administration was trying to figure out ways to harm Musk by cancelling some of his SpaceX contracts. According to the newspaper, a senior official at the General Services Administration asked the Department of Defense to provide information on June 9, laying out all the contracts DoD had with SpaceX. Unfortunately for Trump, the vast majority of the contracts, with agencies like NASA, Space Force, and the Air Force, were deemed vital for the country. But the fact that Trump was trying to figure out ways to pull contracts from Musk and his companies wasn't exactly news last week. Trump had previously said he wanted to do that during a contentious back-and-forth that played out in the media. Trump first said he was 'very disappointed' in Musk during a press conference in the White House on June 5, after the billionaire Tesla CEO had been criticizing the so-called Big Beautiful Bill. The president even said Musk might be developing 'Trump Derangement Syndrome,' and made fun of Musk's black eye in the Oval Office, saying, 'Do you want a little makeup?' The criticism prompted Musk to go nuclear, writing, 'Time to drop the really big bomb: @realDonaldTrump is in the Epstein files. That is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day, DJT!' That set off Trump who noted on Truth Social, 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Musk replied to Trump's threat with his own tweet that same day: 'In light of the President's statement about cancellation of my government contracts, @SpaceX will begin decommissioning its Dragon spacecraft immediately.' Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, would later back off his threat to decommission the Dragon spacecraft. And while it's not clear why, one imagines he had a little chat with the COO of SpaceX, Gwynne Shotwell, the person who seems to be the person who actually runs the company. Folks at NASA really like Shotwell and distrust Musk, according to several reports. We now know that Trump's name is indeed in the Epstein files, and the president was told as much by the Department of Justice in May, according to the Wall Street Journal. The White House denies this is true, but Trump was friends with Epstein before they had a falling out in the mid-2000s and appeared in photos and videos together during the 1990s. This on-again, off-again relationship between Musk and Trump is strange to see play out in public. But that's to be expected when you're dealing with men who seek the limelight. Both Musk and Trump have built their reputations by airing their grievances on social media. And the modern MAGA movement is built on whining about all the ways that people are oppressing you and being unfair. But the way that the relationship keeps swinging wildly between love and hate suggests these guys really do need each other. Musk has formed his own political party, dubbed the America Party, as a threat to Trump's candidates at the Congressional level. But it remains to be seen whether Musk really follows through on his third-party ideas. Musk, after all, said on a Tesla earnings call Wednesday that his vehicles would have unsupervised full self-driving by the end of the year. The billionaire has been saying that so much that his failed promises even have their own Wikipedia page.