A new batch of SpaceX Starlink satellites are now in orbit after a successful launch from California on Monday (Feb. 10).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the 23 broadband spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 9:09 p.m. EST (6:09 p.m. local California time; 0209 GMT on Feb. 11).
The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff as planned, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.”
It was the 23rd launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Fourteen of those flights have been Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued to carry the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. It deployed them there about 65 minutes after liftoff as planned, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX has now launched 18 Falcon 9 missions in 2025, 12 of them Starlink flights.
The Starlink satellite constellation — the largest ever launched — currently has more than 6,900 operational spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.
Article by:Source: robert@collectspace.com (Robert Z. Pearlman)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(718x391:720x393)/louise-lasalle-tout-2825-c7e93a6a127e4a949029f49418004115.jpg?w=300&resize=300,180)
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(718x391:720x393)/louise-lasalle-tout-2825-c7e93a6a127e4a949029f49418004115.jpg?w=80&resize=80,80)