“Blast Off: SpaceX Propels 21 New Starlink Satellites into Orbit with Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center”

SpaceX executed its latest deployment of Starlink satellites for its internet megaconstellation shortly after midnight on Tuesday. Nonetheless, there might have been more satellites onboard as well.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 12:24 a.m. EST (0524 UTC) to commence the Starlink 13-1 mission.

Interestingly, the SpaceX broadcast didn’t initiate as scheduled and started a couple of minutes into the flight. Once it commenced, it was devoid of the usual telemetry data and did not provide views of the Falcon 9 upper stage as is typically shown during a Starlink mission.



The Falcon 9 first stage booster, with tail number B1083, was utilized for this mission. Its previous missions encompassed the launches of Crew-8, Polaris Dawn, and CRS-31.

After ascending for the eighth occasion, B1083 successfully touched down on the SpaceX droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This signified the 95th landing for ASOG and the 399th booster landing overall.

The Starlink 13-1 mission will represent SpaceX’s fifth dedicated Starlink launch of the year and its ninth orbital launch in 2025. The flight featured 21 Starlink satellites onboard.

Notably, recent flights for the Starlink constellation that have featured only 21 satellites onboard typically include 13 that possess Direct to Cell capabilities, although none of these were acknowledged by SpaceX leading up to the launch.

In instances where DTC Starlink satellites are not included, SpaceX has been sending batches of 24 Starlink satellites from Florida. Presently, it is preparing to launch a batch of 27 satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base no earlier than late Tuesday morning during the Starlink 11-8 mission. This is expected to be the inaugural launch of SpaceX’s so-called Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites, which are significantly lighter than their predecessors.

Considering that only 21 Starlink satellites were noted for the Starlink 13-1 mission without any DTCs mentioned, this might imply that additional satellites, possibly Starshield, were also onboard. Starshield represents the government variant of Starlink and has most recently been utilized on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office.

Neither the NRO nor SpaceX has offered any confirmation regarding the launch of Starshield satellites as part of the Starlink 13-1 mission, but if this is the case, it would not be the first combination mission. The NROL-126 mission, which took flight on November 30, 2024, included 20 Starlink satellites alongside an undisclosed number of Starshield satellites.