SpaceX has efficiently despatched one other batch of Starlink satellites into area on Monday, marking its second launch of the day. At 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 GMT on April 29), a brand-new Falcon 9 rocket carried 23 Starlink broadband satellites, together with 13 outfitted with direct-to-cell functionality, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Earlier in the present day, a separate Falcon 9 launched 27 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The fast double mission highlights SpaceX’s tempo in increasing its Web constellation, which already stands as the most important of its form ever deployed.
Model-New Falcon 9 Lands After Launching 23 Starlink Satellites to Orbit
In line with a House.com report, this launch was important because it was the primary flight for this particular Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage. SpaceX’s boosters see a number of missions, with one record-setting booster attaining 27 flights to this point. Regardless of being model new, the primary stage of the Falcon 9 made a flawless touchdown roughly eight minutes after launch, gently touchdown on the “A Shortfall of Gravitas” droneship stationed within the Atlantic Ocean.
In the meantime, the rocket’s higher stage continued its journey, carrying the 23 Starlink satellites towards low Earth orbit (LEO). The satellites have been launched about 65 minutes after liftoff, becoming a member of — or extra aptly, surrounding — the ever-growing constellation of Starlink spacecraft. With tonight’s profitable deployment, SpaceX is one step nearer to attaining its mission of providing international broadband protection utilizing 1000’s of satellites working collectively.
SpaceX Marks fiftieth Falcon 9 Launch of 2025, Increasing Starlink to 7,200 Satellites
SpaceX’s fiftieth Falcon 9 mission of 2025, dedicated to rising the Starlink community, is a spotlight of the corporate’s relentless launch cadence, with 33 missions devoted to the venture, which now counts greater than 7,200 working satellites.
SpaceX remains to be rising out its satellite tv for pc constellation and refining its launch-and-recovery expertise. The truth that the corporate was in a position to pull off two profitable Starlink missions in a single day demonstrates simply how nicely SpaceX has been in a position to finesse the stability between reusability with new {hardware}.