SpaceX added more satellites to its massive, ever-growing Starlink internet constellation on Monday night (November 27).
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday at 11:20 p.m. EDT (0420 GMT on November 28).
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The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage returned to Earth for a vertical landing about 8.5 minutes after launch. The plane landed on the “Just Read the Instructions” drone, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
This was the 17th launch and landing of this particular booster, according to SpaceX Task description.
Meanwhile, the 23 Starlink satellites were scheduled to deploy from the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage into low Earth orbit (LEO) about 65.5 minutes after liftoff.
The Starlink network, which broadcasts Internet service to people around the world, has more than 5,000 operational spacecraft, according to the astrophysicist and satellite tracker. Jonathan McDowell.
But this number continues to grow, and is likely to continue in the future. SpaceX already has permission to deploy 12,000 Starlink vehicles in low Earth orbit, and has applied for approval for another 30,000 vehicles on top of that.
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