SpaceX put another large batch of Starlink Internet satellites into orbit and landed a rocket on a ship at sea on Tuesday, local time. A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket with 52 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 10:14 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
Less than nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth and landed vertically on SpaceX’s unmanned ship, A Shorteship of Gravitas, which is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
Meanwhile, Falcon 9’s upper stage continued to power LEO and eventually deployed the Starlink satellite as planned about 15 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is SpaceX’s Internet mega-constellation, which delivers broadband services to hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The company has now launched more than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, but more could be on the way, with SpaceX having been approved to launch 12,000 satellites and having applied for approval to launch 30,000 more on top of that.
Tonight’s launch is the company’s 21st Starlink mission in 2022 and its 35th orbital flight overall this year, adding to SpaceX’s record. The company’s previous record for most orbital missions in a year, set in 2021, was 31.
Rocket reuse is a key priority for SpaceX, which the company sees as a breakthrough that will help make Mars colonization feasible.
According to SpaceX’s mission description, the Falcon 9 first stage, which flew Tuesday, has already made two space flights. That’s impressive, but it’s far from a SpaceX record; to date, three different Falcon 9 boosters have launched 13 orbital missions.
The Starlink launch was part of a very active day for SpaceX. Today, the company also conducted a “static ignition” engine test at its South Texas facility for Booster 7 and Spacecraft 24, the prototype of its Starship deep space transportation system.
SpaceX is preparing Booster 7 and Spacecraft 224 for the first orbital test flight of the Starship program, which the company aims to launch in the coming months.
