Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 booster carrying 23 more Starlink V2 Mini satellites to orbit tonight from Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. Launch was at 11:09 PM EDT, and was successful. The launch was late in the launch window after two pushbacks on the planned L-0 time due to shifting weather here on the Space Coast.
Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT
There are now more than 6,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, with each successive tranche that SpaceX expanding the reach and bandwidth of their orbital-based Internet service. According to the company, the service is growing in popularity and has over two million active users.
Landing was aboard SpaceX’s Automated Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS) “Just Read The Instructions” northeast of the Bahamas in the Atlantic Ocean about eight and a half minutes after launching.
“Just Read The Instructions” will return to Port Canaveral in a few days, and afterwards, B1060 will return to SpaceX’s Hanger X facility at Kennedy Space Center for inspection, refurbishment and presumably reuse on its next mission.
Source: Melbourne National Weather Service radar
Booster
SpaceX flew Booster B1060 for the nineteenth time tonight. Previous missions include GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, Intuitive Machines IM-1, and 12 Starlink missions.
B1060 joins B1061 and B1062 as active boosters that have flown 19 missions. One (or all) of those three are likely to fly their twentieth mission at some point in the future.
| Booster B-1060 | ||
| Flight Number | Payload | Date |
| 1 | GPS III SV03 | June 30, 2020 |
| 2 | Starlink L11 | September 3, 2020 |
| 3 | Starlink L14 | October 24, 2020 |
| 4 | Türksat 5A | January 8, 2021 |
| 5 | Starlink L18 | February 4. 2021 |
| 6 | Starlink L22 | March 24, 2021 |
| 7 | Starlink L24 | April 29, 2021 |
| 8 | Transporter-2 | June 20, 2021 |
| 9 | Starlink 4-3 | December 2, 2021 |
| 10 | Starlink 4-6 | January 19, 2022 |
| 11 | Starlink 4-9 | March 3, 2022 |
| 12 | Starlink 4-14 | April 21. 2022 |
| 13 | Starlink 4-19 | June 17, 2022 |
| 14 | Galaxy 34 / 35 | October 8, 2022 |
| 15 | Transporter-6 | January 3. 2023 |
| 16 | Starlink 5-15 | July 16, 2023 |
| 17 | Starlink 6-18 | September 24, 2024 |
| 18 | IM-1 Odysseus Lander | February 15, 2024 |
| 19 | Starlink 6-42 | March 23, 2024 |
Next Launch
Space Coast residents won’t have to wait long for another launch: SpaceX plans to launch Starlink 6-46 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday, March 25, 2024.
The launch window extends from 5:00 until 9:31 PM EDT.
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