SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 shortly after midnight Sunday with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Screenshot from SpaceX
Dec. 8 (UPI) — SpaceX early Sunday launched 23 Starlink spacecraft from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The 229-foot tall Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40 at 12:11 a.m. because it lit up the sky.
The first stage booster landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship on the Atlantic Ocean 8 1/2 minutes later.
This was the second time this booster launched with the NOAA GOES-U satellite tv for pc lifted in late June.
At 1:22 a.m., the Starlink satellites have been deployed into orbit, together with 13 with direct-to-cell service for cell prospects.
It was the 123rd Falcon 9 liftoff of the 12 months.
SpaceX has launched greater than 80 Starlink missions to date in 2024.
There are greater than 6,800 operational Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.
On Wednesday in California, SpaceX marked the three hundredth time SpaceX efficiently returned the primary stage of its Falcon 9 rocket within the firm’s historical past. Starlink Mission 9-14 left the Vandenberg Space Force Station with 20 Starlink satellites, together with 13 with direct-to-cell service.
“The first Starlink satellite tv for pc direct-to-cell cellphone constellation is now full,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk stated through X early Thursday morning. “This will allow unmodified cellphones to have web connectivity in distant areas. Bandwidth per beam is barely ~10Mb, however future constellations will likely be way more succesful.”
In all, SpaceX has had 419 complete launches with 381 landings.
SpaceX subsequent plans to launch mPOWER-E satellites for SES throughout a launch window from 3:55 p.m. to six:25 p.m. Thursday from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A.
