WATCH | SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit on leap day
Starlink internet satellites launch
In a major"leap" forward for its Starlink project, SpaceX launched a fresh set of 23 satellites into orbit from Florida's Space Coast on leap year day on Thursday (Feb 29), marking the company's 11th flight for this Falcon 9 first stage. The launched satellites were SpaceX's Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites. The rocket, carrying 23 Starlink satellites, took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
"On Thursday, February 29 at 10:30 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the 11th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, O3b mPOWER, Ovzon 3, and now six Starlink missions," SpaceX said in a statement following the launch.
The mission, dubbed Starlink 6-40, followed the postponement of SpaceX's Crew-8 mission, which aimed to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station.
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Rough offshore weather prompted the delay. Crew-8 was then rescheduled for Saturday (March 2) night.
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Falcon 9 booster returns to Earth
The Falcon 9 rocket, powered by SpaceX's Merlin engines, has become the workhorse of the company's launch fleet, conducting numerous successful missions to deploy satellites.
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The Falcon 9 booster, after this latest launch, successfully returned to Earth just over 8 minutes post-launch. It landed at sea on the drone ship Just Read The Instructions, paving the way for its eventual reuse.
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Starlink satellites are part of SpaceX's ambitious project to create a global broadband network capable of delivering high-speed internet to users virtually anywhere on the planet, including rural and remote regions where traditional internet infrastructure is unavailable or unreliable.
(With inputs from agencies)