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SpaceX launched 23 extra of its Starlink web satellites from California on Monday (March 11), within the second leg of a spaceflight doubleheader.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:09 a.m. EDT (0409 GMT or 9:09 p.m. PDT March 10 native time).
It was the second Starlink mission in a little bit over 4 hours; the corporate earlier launched 23 of the broadband craft from Florida’s Space Coast.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
If all goes to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come again to Earth about 8.25 minutes after liftoff, making a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which shall be stationed within the Pacific Ocean.
It would be the seventeenth launch and touchdown for this explicit booster, in line with a SpaceX mission description. Eleven of its 16 missions to this point have been Starlink flights.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage will proceed heading towards low Earth orbit (LEO), finally deploying the 23 Starlink satellites there about 62 minutes after launch.
Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband megaconstellation, which beams web service to individuals world wide.
There are practically 5,500 operational Starlink craft in LEO, however that quantity will proceed to go up for the foreseeable future. SpaceX already has permission to deploy 12,000 Starlink satellites, and it has utilized for approval for about 30,000 extra on high of that.
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