Rough seas caused Blue Origin to hold off a planned early Friday launch attempt with is debut of New Glenn, which is now targeting early Sunday instead. SpaceX, though, managed liftoff later Friday with a booster flying for a record 25th time.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 of the company’s Starlink satellites lifted off at 2:11 p.m. Eastern time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40.

The fleet-leading booster first flew June 3, 2021 on the CRS-22 cargo Dragon resupply mission to the International Space Station. It notably flew both the Crew-3 and Crew-4 human spaceflight missions to the ISS as well.

It completed its 25th flight with another recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions stationed downrange in the Atlantic.

It marked the fourth launch from the Space Coast in 2025, all from SpaceX, following a year the company flew 88 of the 93 total launches from either Canaveral or neighboring Kennedy Space Center.

It’s also the fifth mission so far this year for Elon Musk’s company including its first California rocket launch that happened late Thursday — the NROL-153 mission for the National Reconnaissance Organization from Vandenberg Space Force Base. SpaceX also has planned its first Starship and Super Heavy suborbital test flight of the year as soon as Monday from its Texas launch site in Boca Chica.

The next Space Coast launch, though, could fall to Blue Origin’s New Glenn on the NG-1 mission, which is now targeting launch early Sunday from Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36 during a launch window that runs from 1-4 a.m.

Similar to the Falcon 9, Blue Origin has designed New Glenn for reusability and will attempt a recovery landing on its own ship, Jacklyn, also stationed downrange in the Atlantic.

“Just need the sea to settle down a bit,” said Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp on X. “Some context on our 1/12 target launch date — our objective is to reach orbit. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Landing our booster offshore is ambitious — but we’re going for it. No matter what, we will learn a lot.”

Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron had forecast medium to high chances of poor recovery weather for where Jacklyn, which is named after Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos’ mother, was stationed much farther from the coast than where SpaceX’s recovery ships generally go.

The 320-foot-tall New Glenn is powered by seven of the company’s BE-4 engines, producing 3.9 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, compared to the 1.7 million pounds of thrust from the 230-foot-tall Falcon 9.

So New Glenn boosters will travel farther out over the Atlantic before their recovery run back to Earth with previous Blue Origin statements saying they will aim for a landing 620 miles downrange.

Falcon 9 booster recovery locations can vary, but typically happen about 400 miles from the coast.

Blue Origin just like SpaceX plans to use cargo facilities at Port Canaveral to offload the boosters once they return from landing. Blue Origin brought in its own crane to offload the taller New Glenn boosters.

The boosters are designed for 25 flights. SpaceX had originally designed Falcon 9 boosters for 10 flights, but have since increased that number.

In 2024, the company stated it was working on qualifying them for up to 40 flights. Several have already passed 20 flights.

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