SpaceX sent another batch of its Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Florida early Tuesday morning (June 3).
Twenty three (23) of the broadband internet units, including 13 with direct-to-cell capabilities, rode atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on a nine-minute trip into space. Liftoff occurred at 12:23 a.m. EDT (0423 GMT).
The satellites were set to be released into orbit about an hour later.
As to plan, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage was jettisoned and returned to a landing on “Just Read the Instructions,” a droneship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. This was the 21st flight for the first stage, including 13 prior Starlink missions, according to a flight summary on SpaceX’s website.
Monday’s launch followed a similar mission from Vandenberg Space Force Station in southern California on Saturday. That flight deployed 27 Starlink satellites.
The active Starlink constellation is now more than 7,600 satellites strong, according to tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, making it the largest space-based communications network in history. SpaceX launched about one thousand more of the satellites, which as of today are no longer in service.