Another day, another Starlink launch.
SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink satellites late Friday (May 31). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 broadband vehicles lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:37 p.m. EDT (0237 GMT June 1) after a slight 26-minute delay due to weather.
The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage returned to Earth as planned about 8 minutes after launch, landing on the drone called “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 14th launch and landing of this particular booster, according to A SpaceX mission description. Seven of its 13 flights so far have been Starlink missions.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage continued to carry 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, where they were deployed about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Related: Starlink Space Train: How to See and Track It in the Night Sky
Tonight’s launch will already mark SpaceX’s 57th orbital mission of the year, and the 40th Starlink-centric liftoff in 2024. The launch also occurred on the fourth anniversary of SpaceX’s first-ever crewed launch, the Demo-2 test flight of the first Crew Dragon vehicle. The spacecraft that launched NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the International Space Station on May 31, 2020.
The company has so far launched more than 6,500 Starlink satellites to LEO, and approx 6000 of them Currently working.
The Starlink launch is part of a very busy stretch in spaceflight. Rocket Lab plans to launch NASA’s climate cubes tonight, for example, and Boeing’s Starliner capsule is scheduled to lift off with astronauts on board for the first time ever tomorrow afternoon (June 1). Tomorrow evening, the Chinese Chang’e 6 robotic mission to return samples is expected to land on the far side of the moon.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 8:14 a.m. ET on June 1 to reflect the successful launch of SpaceX’s newest Starlink mission.
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