SpaceX sent the next batch of 23 Starlink satellites for their orbital-based Internet service tonight from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 booster. Liftoff was shortly after 5:35 pm EST from Pad SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Roughly eight and a half minutes after liftoff, the booster used for the flight touched down safely near the Bahamas. The second stage continued to carry the company’s payload to orbit, which it achieved successfully at about the same time the first stage booster was touching down.

Mission Trajectory

Tonight’s launch was to the southeast, as has been customary with other launches of the Group 6 batch of Starlink satellites.

16th Flight for Booster B-1076

Tonight’s flight was the16th flight for the first stage booster B-1076, It previously launched CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, mPOWER-a, PSN SATRIA, and seven Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage landed on the autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of the Bahamas.

The booster will be returned to Port Canaveral and then transferred to SpaceX’s Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center for inspect and ostensibly re-use on a future mission.

Next Launch

Area residents and space aficionados will not have to wait long for the next launch: at 2:18 am EST tomorrow morning, ULA plans to send their new Vulcan rocket on its maiden launch.