A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 23 Starlink internet satellites into orbit from Florida tonight (October 21) in the company’s second mission of the day.
The Falcon 9 rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday at 10:17 PM EDT (0217 GMT on October 22).
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The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage returned to Earth for a vertical landing tonight, landing about 8.5 minutes after launch aboard the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was the fourth flight of the first stage of this missile. According to the task description.
The 23 Starlink satellites are scheduled to deploy from the Falcon 9 upper stage about 65.5 minutes after launch.
Tonight’s launch was the second of the day for SpaceX. The company launched 21 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California early this morning.
Starlink is SpaceX’s massive constellation in low Earth orbit, providing internet service to customers around the world. There is currently approx 4,900 operational Starlink satellitesAnd the number continues to grow.