A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 21 Starlink Internet satellites from California early Saturday morning (Oct. 21).
Falcon 9 lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 4:23 a.m. EDT (0823 GMT; 1:23 a.m. local California time) on Saturday.
Falcon 9’s first stage landed safely on schedule, touching down in the ocean on the SpaceX drone ship Off Course I Still Love You 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
According to SpaceX, this is the 16th flight for the first stage of this particular rocket Job description. It’s a shame on the company’s recycling record, which was established last month.
Meanwhile, 21 Starlink satellites were scheduled to launch from the top of the Falcon 9 62.5 minutes after launch, SpaceX confirmed. Post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Liftoff will be SpaceX’s 75th orbital mission in 2023. The company is targeting 100 aircraft by the end of this year and 144 aircraft by 2024.
60% of flights this year are dedicated to building SpaceX’s Internet megaconstellation Starling. Starlink currently has approx 4,900 operational satellitesAnd that number will continue to grow in the future.
