Billionaire Elon Musk’s company SpaceX successfully launched 21 Starlink satellites into orbit early Tuesday morning, the company’s first mission since a disastrous Starship test flight a week ago when its unmanned rocket exploded just minutes after liftoff, according to Space.com.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 12:24 a.m. EST (0524 GMT) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida yesterday, carrying all 21 satellites into low Earth orbit. The first stage executed a flawless return, according to the company, touching down on SpaceX’s Atlantic-based drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, approximately eight minutes after liftoff. The flight is the eighth mission for this specific rocket booster, which has supported four previous Starlink deployments.
About 65 minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s upper stage completed its task, deploying the 21 satellites into orbit. The mission adds to SpaceX’s growing Starlink constellation, which is intended to provide global high-speed internet coverage.
During the company’s seventh test of its Starship mega-rocket launched from South Texas on Jan. 16, the Super Heavy booster executed a return to its launch site, but the Starship’s upper stage exploded 8.5 minutes into flight due to a suspected propellant leak, according to the company.