SpaceX launches 52 Starlink satellites, lands rocket at sea - Space.com

SpaceX launched another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit and landed a rocket on a ship at sea on Tuesday (Aug. 9).

A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with 52 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday at 10:14 p.m.

A little less than nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. .

The Falcon 9 upper stage, meanwhile, continued powering its way to low Earth orbit, eventually deploying the Starlink satellites as planned about 15 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX confirmed via Twitter (opens in new tab). .

Elon Musk's company has now launched more than 3,000 Starlink satellites (opens in new tab) to orbit, but many more will likely go up; SpaceX has permission to loft 12,000 of the craft and has applied for approval to launch 30,000 more on top of that.

Tonight's launch was the company's 21st Starlink mission of 2022 and its 35th orbital flight of the year overall, adding to a SpaceX record.

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The Falcon 9 first stage that flew on Tuesday already had two spaceflights under its belt, according to a SpaceX mission description (opens in new tab).

The Starlink launch was part of a very active day for SpaceX.