UNITED STATES: SpaceX has represented a significant amount of shows this year and yesterday was no different. After an on-time liftoff from Florida on Saturday evening, SpaceX flew into orbit the second set of its Starlink internet-beaming satellites.
At 7:32 p.m. EDT, the 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 40 for the Space Coast’s 42nd launch. It was the 181st flight overall for the corporation and the 62nd mission specifically for Starlink, 177 of which were carried out by Falcon 9.
Just under nine minutes later, the Falcon 9’s first stage made its way back to Earth, landing precisely on the SpaceX “droneship” A Shortfall of Gravitas that was sailing in the Atlantic. This specific booster had performed four liftoffs and landings according to a SpaceX mission description.
About 15 minutes after liftoff, the initial batch of 52 satellites began to deploy and joined the more than 3,300 others that today make up the constellation in low-Earth orbit.
52 Starlinks were successfully released by the Falcon 9’s upper stage 15.5 minutes after liftoff, according to Twitter confirmation from the company.
SpaceX will start launching Starlink Version 2 (V2) satellites, which will be significantly larger and more powerful than the present edition, starting next year. Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, revealed last month that the V2 spacecraft can beam connectivity directly to cellphones and will do so for T-Mobile users through a project named “Coverage Above and Beyond.”
The launch on Saturday was the company’s 43rd orbital mission of 2022, breaking the company’s previous record for liftoffs in a calendar year. The previous record for launches by the company was 31, which was attained in 2021.
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