SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites from Florida (video)
SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast early Monday morning (Nov. 25).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft — including 12 with direct-to-smartphone capability — lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 4:35 a.m. EST (1002 GMT).
SpaceX webcast the launch via its X account, with the live stream beginning about five minutes before launch.
The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, touching down on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was the 13th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Six of its 12 flights to date have been Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage continued on hauling the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit; it’s scheduled to deploy them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever built, consisting of more than 6,600 active spacecraft, according to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
And the megaconstellation is growing all the time, as Monday morning’s planned mission shows. SpaceX has conducted 115 Falcon 9 missions so far in 2024, and nearly 70% of them have been Starlink flights.