On August 19, SpaceX successfully executed a rocket landing at sea while launching a large batch of additional Starlink Internet satellites into orbit.
At 3:21 p.m. EDT (19:21 GMT), a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 53 Starlink satellites was launched from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth for a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas," which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida, around nine minutes into the mission, according to Space.com.
According to a SpaceX mission description, it was the ninth launch and landing for this specific Falcon 9 first stage. A little more than 15 minutes after launch, the rocket's upper stage eventually placed the 53 satellites into low Earth orbit as intended. SpaceX confirmed this through Twitter.
More than 3,000 spacecraft have already been launched by SpaceX for the Starlink constellation, which beams broadband connectivity to users all across the world.
This year has seen the launch of many of those satellites. At this point in 2022, SpaceX has conducted 37 orbital launches, 23 of which were specific Starlink missions. The previous record for the firm for the most orbital missions in a year was 31, achieved in 2021; this launch cadence breaks it.
A robotic Dragon cargo ship from SpaceX left the International Space Station a few hours before the most recent Starlink launch. On August 20, the Dragon made its way back to Earth through an ocean splashdown.
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