Nov. 14 (UPI) — SpaceX launched 24 more Starlink satellites into orbit at 8:21 a.m. Thursday morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
SpaceX said in a statement, “On Thursday, November 14 at 8:21 a.m. ET, Falcon 9 launched 24 Starlink satellites, to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This was the 18th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously mPOWER-C, OneWeb2, Intelsat 40e, Digital Globe 2, Turksat-6A, Eutelsat 36X, Ovzon-3, CRS-26, and now 10 Starlink missions.”
The launch placed 24 additional Starlink V2 Mini satellites into lower Earth orbit in what has become a routine occurrence for SpaceX’s business. It will be part of a constellation that will allow Internet service around the world, even in its most remote areas.
The launch is the 18th for the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket, which returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff and landed on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
The liftoff was part of a double launch for SpaceX. Five hours earlier another SpaceX rocket lifted 20 Starlink satellites into space from the Vandenberg Space Force Center in California.
The next SpaceX launch is set for Boca Chica, Texas on Monday when the sixth Starship flight test will lift off. The 30-minute launch window for that mission begins at 5 p.m. EST Monday Nov. 18.
It will include testing a suite of heatshield experiments and maneuvering changes to have the ship re-enter and descend over the Indian Ocean, according to a SpaceX mission update.