SpaceX launched another batch of its broadband satellites into orbit this evening (March 25).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying SpaceX's 23 Starlink Internet satellites lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 7:42 PM EDT (2342 GMT).
The first stage of Falcon 9 touched down on schedule about 8.5 minutes after boarding A Shortfall of Gravitas, a SpaceX drone ship docked in the Atlantic Ocean.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
Step one is the eighth launch and landing for this particular booster SpaceX mission description.
Meanwhile, Falcon 9's upper stage will place 23 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) 65 minutes after liftoff, if all goes according to plan.
Today's launch is already the 29th Falcon 9 mission of 2024, and the 19th dedicated to building the Starlink megaconstellation. Prior to this liftoff, SpaceX had launched 6,054 Starlink satellites, of which 5,587 are currently operational in LEO. According to Jonathan McDowell, astrophysicist and satellite observer.