William Harwood / CBS News
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida on Tuesday night, marking the company’s 100th and 23rd place so far this year. The missile reinforced another group of 60 Starlink Internet Satellites In orbit using the first stage, making the seventh flight record.
The The latest batch of Starlinks The total number launched so far has pushed to 955 as SpaceX continues to build a global constellation of Internet transmission satellites designed to provide broadband services to subscribers anywhere on the planet. Thousands more satellites are planned.
The nine transported booster engines ignited well at 9:13 PM ET, suffocated to their maximum power and quickly pushed the slender missile away from Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station over an impressive jet of smoldering exhaust.
Takeoff came three days later than planned due to high winds that delayed the launch of the first phase of the engine test and severe weather in the marine booster area.
But it was clear sailing on Tuesday as the 30-story Falcon 9 raced over the Atlantic Ocean, delivering a great early evening show to locals and tourists.
The rocket’s first stage was to make a standard seventh flight from the lower atmosphere, to become “Squadron Commander” of the Falcon 9 at SpaceX. Two and a half minutes after launch, nine Merlin 1D engines sealed and decoupled from the second stage of the Falcon 9.
While the second stage continued toward orbit with the power of its single space-rated engine, the first stage returned to Earth, leading itself to an image-perfect landing on a drone awaiting SpaceX. Touchdown marks the company’s 67th successful booster recovery, 46th at sea and its second landing in two days.
Elon MuskSpaceX founder and chief designer, said the early stages of the Falcon 9 “Block 5” should be able to fly up to 10 times without overhaul and up to 100 times with scheduled inspections and maintenance.
However, a few seconds after the missile landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” drone, the second stage of the Falcon 9 closed and six minutes later, 60 Starlink satellites were launched via the Internet to fly alone.
SpaceX is currently testing its initial Starlink service across parts of Canada and the northern United States, and the company has obtained regulatory approval to launch thousands of satellites into six orbiting jets to provide seamless broadband to commercial receivers anywhere on Earth, not just the higher latitudes that are Serve it now.
Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, an independent space analyst, said that 54 Starlinks appear to have been deliberately removed so far, six more have been reintroduced after possible failures, and 18 others appear not to be maneuvering. With that number, 817 Starlinks are believed to be in service until Sunday’s launch.
