SpaceX beats thunderstorm by minutes launching an Egyptian satellite Nilesat-301 to orbit!

June 8th 2022 – SpaceX launches an Egyptian satellite Nilesat-301 and liftoff was just ahead of a marine warned thunderstorm complex to the southwest at 5:04 PM EDT 21:04 UTC from launch complex 40 Cape Canaveral Florida.

First Stage Falcon 9 booster B-1062-7 (its seventh flight) successfully landed on JRTI down range and the satellite built by Thales Alenia Space was deployed into orbit. This booster has previously flown on the GPSIII 3 & 4th, Inspiration 4 (the all civilian crew for St. Jude) Axiom-1 (first all private astronauts to the ISS) and two Starlink missions 4-5 and 4-16.

This launch is the 161st for SpaceX with 123 total booster landings and 99 reflown Falcon 9 rockets.

Congratulations to the entire team at SpaceX and their customer for a picture perfect launch and deployment!

Photo Credit by Scott Schilke for spacenews.lu & space-news.es