SpaceX launches latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Florida, lands on drone ship

Emre Kelly, Florida Today
·2 min read
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket vaulted the company's latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday, then turned around to land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

After an 11:43 a.m. EDT liftoff from Launch Complex 40 and a pivot toward the southeast, the 162-foot booster completed its 10th flight to date with a successful ship landing about 150 miles east of the Bahamas. The Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship and Falcon 9 booster are expected back at Port Canaveral by early next week at the latest.

Secured in the rocket's payload fairing were 56 Starlink satellites, which will spend the next several weeks slowly raising their orbits. The internet constellation's satellites – roughly 4,000 since the first flight in 2019 – typically operate about 340 miles above Earth. Friday's flight marked Starlink's 76th dedicated mission, which now delivers space-based internet connectivity to most of North and South America, Europe, Japan, and Australia. SpaceX expects to provide near-global coverage by next year.

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SpaceX confirmed successful deployment of the satellites just over an hour after liftoff.

Beyond Friday's launch, the Space Coast's manifest is mostly open until April. Another Starlink mission could fly from the Cape no earlier than Wednesday, March 29, but that remains unconfirmed.

Next month promises to be fairly busy with at least three Falcon 9 launches and the second-to-last Delta IV Heavy, United Launch Alliance's three-core rocket built primarily for national defense missions. If schedules hold, Delta will fly a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload from the Cape's Launch Complex 37 no earlier than Thursday, April 20.

Also this week, NASA confirmed Boeing's first launch of astronauts using the company's Starliner capsule was delayed from late April to no earlier than May. NASA said it was due to International Space Station scheduling issues related to other launches, but the Starliner program has also been impacted by technical delays since the first test flight in late 2019.

For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX launches Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral