SpaceX launches 23 Starlink broadband satellites to orbit from Florida (video) (Image Credit: Space.com)
SpaceX launched 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast this evening (Oct. 23).A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today. SpaceX had been targeting Tuesday (Oct. 22) but called that try off due to weather concerns.The Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff as planned, landing on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the 18th launch and landing for this particular booster, and its 13th Starlink mission overall, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO). It will deploy them there about 65 minutes after liftoff, if all goes to plan.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
SpaceX currently operates more than 6,400 Starlink satellites in LEO, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.
But that number is ever-growing, as today’s launch shows. SpaceX has now conducted 99 Falcon 9 missions in 2024 so far, and more than two-thirds of them have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 9:05 p.m. ET on Oct. 22 with news of the new target launch date of Oct. 23, then again at 6 p.m. ET on Oct. 23 with news of successful launch and rocket landing.