SpaceX's Falcon 9 mission Saturday marked 51 launches from the Space Coast so far this year

Jamie Groh, Florida Today
·2 min read

SpaceX's second launch of the week capped off Saturday night by sending another batch of the company's Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

At 11:38 p.m. EDT, the 230-foot Falcon 9 soared away from Launch Complex 40, arcing along Florida's southeast coast. The first stage booster, flying for a record-tying 17th time, targeted a drone ship landing near the Bahamas.

Saturday's mission, dubbed Starlink 6-18, marked the 51st launch from Florida's Space Coast this year, closing in on the record-setting pace of 57 flown in 2022.

The latest batch of 22 Starlink satellites rounds out the total amount launched since SpaceX began dedicated missions to filling out the near globally spanning constellation in 2019 to over 5,100.

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With this year's routine Starlink launches occurring at a cadence of nearly twice a week, the company has expanded its service to every continent, making it available across many markets for government, residential, and commercial customers.

Later this year, the service is also expected to be available for some mobile users to send text messages with a plan called "Coverage Above & Beyond," with cellular service provider T-Mobile.

More Starlink missions are expected to liftoff soon from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, but SpaceX hasn't yet announced the next targeted launch date.

At nearby Kennedy Space Center, teams are preparing a triple-core SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket for liftoff during the first week of October. The payload of that mission is NASA's Psyche spacecraft, which will study a metal-rich asteroid between Mars and Jupiter.

Liftoff of the interplanetary mission is tentatively slated for no earlier than 10:38 a.m. EDT, Thursday, Oct. 5, from pad 39A. For the latest schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on X at @AlteredJamie.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Saturday SpaceX launch marked 51 from the Space Coast so far this year