SpaceX launched yet one more batch of its Starlink web satellites to orbit right now (Aug. 22).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink craft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in coastal California right now at 1:04 p.m. EDT (1704 GMT; 10:04 a.m. native time).
The rocket’s first stage got here again to Earth about 8.5 minutes later, touching down within the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.” It was the seventeenth launch and touchdown for this specific booster (designated B1081), based on a SpaceX mission description.
Previous Booster 1081 missions
The Falcon 9’s higher stage, in the meantime, continued hauling the 24 Starlink satellites towards low Earth orbit, where they will be deployed about 62.5 minutes after liftoff, if all goes to plan.
They will join more than 8,100 different at present operational craft within the Starlink constellation, the largest satellite tv for pc community ever assembled. And it is rising on a regular basis: SpaceX has now launched 102 Falcon 9 missions in 2025, and greater than 70% of them have been Starlink flights.
SpaceX has three different launches beneath its belt this 12 months as nicely — take a look at flights of Starship, the large rocket that firm founder and CEO Elon Musk hopes will assist make Mars settlement a actuality.
And SpaceX is gearing up for an additional Starship flight, which is scheduled to happen on Sunday (Aug. 24) at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). It would be the tenth launch general for Starship, which debuted in April 2023.