SpaceX despatched one other batch of Starlink satellites to orbit tonight (April 28), its second liftoff of the day.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink broadband satellites — together with 13 with direct-to-cell functionality — lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida tonight at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT on April 29).
It was the second Starlink group to fly as we speak; a Falcon 9 lofted 27 of the web craft from California’s Vandenberg Area Pressure Base earlier today.
Tonight’s launch marked the first-ever liftoff for this specific Falcon 9’s first stage. That is a rarity for SpaceX, which is thought for its rocket reuse; one of many firm’s Falcon 9 boosters has 27 flights beneath its belt.
The Falcon 9 ought to fly once more; it aced its touchdown tonight, coming down on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship” within the Atlantic Ocean about eight minutes after liftoff.
The rocket’s higher stage continued carrying the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), the place they’re scheduled to be deployed 65 minutes after launch.
Associated: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky
Tonight’s launch was the fiftieth Falcon 9 liftoff of the yr already. Thirty-three of these missions have been dedicated to constructing out the Starlink community, the most important satellite tv for pc constellation ever assembled.
The megaconstellation at the moment harbors greater than 7,200 operational spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tv for pc tracker Jonathan McDowell, and it is rising on a regular basis.
Editor’s word: This story has been corrected to state that SpaceX’s first Starlink launch of the day occurred from California’s Vandenberg Area Pressure Base. The unique model incorrectly stated it launched from Cape Canaveral Area Pressure Station in Florida.
