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SpaceX has added 23 more satellites to the Starlink constellation in the low-Earth Orbit. On Thursday, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the new batch of internet satellites lifted off at 10:30 a.m. ET, from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
This launch marked the 11th flight for the first stage booster, which previously supported CRS-26, OneWeb Launch 16, Intelsat IS-40e, O3b mPOWER, Ovzon 3, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage made a precise landing on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
In a parallel development, SpaceX is gearing up for the Falcon 9 launch of the Dragon spacecraft’s eighth operational human spaceflight mission (Crew-8) to the International Space Station. The mission is slated to launch on March 2 from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
SpaceX’s Dragon previously flew the Demo-2, Crew-2, Ax-1, and Crew-6 missions to and from the space station. Following stage separation, the rocket’s first stage will land on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.