SpaceX’s Historic Falcon 9 Flight Launches 21 Starlink Satellites
SpaceX broke the previous record early on Saturday, February 15, when it launched a Falcon 9 rocket. At 1:14 a.m. EST (0614 GMT), the rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which already had 21 Starlink broadband satellites in orbit.This rocket soared for the 26th time last month, breaking a reuse record set by SpaceX in an attempt to make it more reusable. In its mission description, Starlink states that 15 out of the 26 missions have successfully launched Starlink satellites into orbit.
The rocket was seen on SpaceX footage as it rose through the clouds. 21 Starlink satellites, 13 of which have direct-to-cell capability, are part of its payload.
When is the Next Rocket Launch Scheduled in Florida?
The A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship was waiting in the Atlantic Ocean when the first-stage booster touched down a little more than eight minutes later. With 26 successful flights and landings, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 broke the record set by this specific booster back in January.
14 Starlink missions, CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, O3B mPOWER, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Marah Putih 2, Galileo L13, and Koreasat-6A are among the previous missions that were powered by the first stage.
SpaceX released a video of the descent and landing along with the caption, “Falcon 9 lands on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, completing the first 26th launch and landing of an orbital class rocket,” on X this morning.
About 65 minutes after launch, the top stage of the Falcon 9 successfully launched the 21 Starlink satellites—13 of which are capable of direct-to-cell communication—into low Earth orbit.
When will Florida Host the Next SpaceX Rocket Launch?
Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 40 will host SpaceX’s next launch on Tuesday, February 18 at 6 p.m. There are backup launch options till 10 p.m. that evening. It will be the first time a SpaceX Falcon 9 lands on a drone ship positioned off the Bahamas, and it will launch another batch of Starlink satellites.
