SpaceX crams in an extra Starlink in latest launch
SpaceX sent up the 12th launch from the Space Coast on Sunday afternoon with another mission to expand its Starlink satellite constellation.
One of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:06 p.m.
Because of increased performance on the Falcon 9 of late, this was the first time SpaceX was able to shoehorn in 24 of the larger V2 mini versions of the Starlink satellites, the midterm replacement for its original Starlink satellites that used to fly up in batches of 60.
Previous launches from the East Coast were only flying 23.
This is the 143rd overall Starlink launch since the first operational deployment of the internet satellites in 2019. With this batch, SpaceX will have sent up nearly 5,900, according to statistics tracked by astronomer Jonathan McDowell. That includes more than 4,000 of the original versions and more than 1,800 of the V2 minis.
SpaceX had hoped to have its in-development Starship rocket up and running by now, and its massive increase in capacity would allow for even larger versions of Starlink to populate what for now is approved by the Federal Communications Commission to be a 7,500-satellite constellation, although SpaceX has requested from the FCC to grow it to more than 34,000 satellites.
The first-stage booster flew for the 13th time and made a recovery landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas downrange in the Atlantic.
All but one of the launches so far in 2024 have come from SpaceX with United Launch Alliance’s debut mission for its Vulcan Centaur being the lone other launch.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the company could fly as many as 150 Falcon-class launches across its three pads in Florida and California in 2024.