SpaceX launches 53 more Starlink satellites, lands rocket at sea again
SpaceX launches 53 more Starlink satellites, lands rocket at sea again
By Mike Wall published about 12 hours ago
In a fun coincidence, liftoff occurred today (Aug. 19) at 3:21 p.m. ET.
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SpaceX launched another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit today (Aug. 19) and also aced a rocket landing at sea.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 53 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at, appropriately enough, 3:21 p.m. EDT (1921 GMT).
About nine minutes into the mission, the Falcon 9‘s first stage came back to Earth for a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
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It was the ninth launch and landing for this particular Falcon 9 first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description(opens in new tab).
The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued its way upward, eventually deploying the 53 satellites into low Earth orbit as planned a little