Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched 21 more of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit tonight from its base in Florida in what will be the space agency’s record-breaking 62nd mission.
According to Space.com, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center tonight at 10:47pm EDT (0247 GMT).
Additionally, fans were able to join in on the thrill as a webcast began 5 minutes before launch time exclusively on the social media site X (formerly known as Twitter) on the SpaceX feed.
The Falcon 9’s first stage safely returned to Earth and about 8.5 minutes after takeoff aboard the drone ship, it touched down on Just Read the Instructions stationed on the Atlantic Ocean.
According to a SpaceX mission description, this specific booster was launched and landed for the tenth time.
About 65 minutes after liftoff, the top stage of the Falcon 9 continued to travel, finally putting the 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO).
The launches underline the ongoing space race to deploy space internet satellites to give wide access to customers all across the globe.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellites are a series of low altitudes to provide high-speed, low-latency internet to users across the world. A large number of Starlink satellites is required to provide users with uninterrupted service.
The user inputs are received by the satellites and then sent to nearby Starlinks for relay to “gateway” ground stations connected to high-speed data lines.
Responses are then passed along back to the user.
Furthermore, Musk’s space agency is in for a busy and exciting day today as hours later they welcomed the four astronauts of its Crew-6 mission, who have been at the International Space Station (ISS) since March.
