The SpaceX launches keep coming.
A Falcon 9 rocket launched 23 more of SpaceX’s Starlink Internet satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday (May 23) at 10:45 p.m. EDT (0245 GMT on May 24). This is the company’s third mission in the last two days.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
The first stage of Falcon 9 came back to Earth 8 minutes after launch. It made a vertical touchdown aboard the “Just Read the Instructions” drone stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
This is the 13th launch and landing for this particular first phase, a step SpaceX mission description. Half of its 12 flights to date are Starlink missions.
Meanwhile, the upper stage of Falcon 9 carried 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), where they were deployed 65 minutes after liftoff.
Thursday night’s action came on the heels of a SpaceX doubleheader. On Wednesday (May 22), the company launched the NROL-146 mission for the US National Reconnaissance Office from California and a suite of Starlink satellites from Florida’s Space Coast.
SpaceX has now launched 52 orbital missions this year, 36 of which have been dedicated to building the Starlink megaconstellation.
