SpaceX launched 28 more of its Starlink internet satellites today (Sept. 18), sending them aloft from Florida’s Space Coast.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with the Starlink craft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT).
About 8.5 minutes later, the rocket’s first stage came back to Earth for a landing, touching down on the SpaceX drone ship “Just Read the Instructions,” which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the seventh launch and landing for this particular booster, which carries the designation B1092. Its most recent flight before today sent the U.S. Space Force’s robotic X-37B space plane to orbit on its latest mystery mission.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 28 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO). They’ll be deployed there about 64 minutes after liftoff, if all goes to plan.
Today’s launch was the 117th Falcon 9 flight of the year already. More than 70% of those missions have been dedicated to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.
Starlink is by far the largest network of spacecraft ever assembled. It currently consists of nearly 8,400 active spacecraft, and it’s growing all the time.