On June 23, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The rocket carried 22 Starlink Internet satellites into low-Earth orbit at 1:15 p.m. ET.
Following the launch, the reusable first stage booster returned to the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean just 8 minutes later. This was the 11th flight for the booster rocket and the 75th time the droneship has been used to recover a first stage booster.
SpaceX has faced challenges in deploying this mission since June 14, primarily due to weather and technical issues.
This launch marks the 65th SpaceX mission of the year, and the company is on track to surpass last year’s total of 98 missions with a projected total of 148 missions.
Overall, this is SpaceX’s 348th Falcon mission. The company aims to provide internet service to 3 million people once all its satellites are deployed.
SpaceX has announced plans to launch another Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a payload of 20 Starlink satellites, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. The launch is scheduled for 11:45 p.m. ET on Sunday. Notably, 13 of these satellites will feature “Direct to Cell” capabilities. The retrieval of the first stage booster rocket will be done using SpaceX’s droneship, named ‘Of Course I Still Love You’.
Each Starlink satellite has an estimated lifespan of around five years. SpaceX has ambitious plans to eventually launch up to 42,000 satellites and has been seeking approval to do so.
Additionally, weather permitting, SpaceX is also scheduled to launch a geostationary satellite from Cape Canaveral on Monday. Geostationary satellites are positioned approximately 23,000 miles above the Earth’s surface and work in conjunction with other geostationary units to provide signal coverage through a process known as ‘triangulation.’ This particular launch has faced delays since April.