About 8.5 minutes after launch, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth as planned and made a vertical landing. It landed on the “Just Read the Instructions,” a SpaceX droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
The mission description states that this was the booster’s ninth launch and landing.
After liftoff, roughly 65 minutes, the 23 Starlink satellites were scheduled to launch from the upper stage of the Falcon 9 into low Earth orbit.
SpaceX’s massive and continuously expanding broadband megaconstellation, known as Starlink, provides internet access to people all around the world. According to astronomer and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, there are currently over 5,100 active satellites in the network.
These days, SpaceX breaks its own flight-cadence record with each liftoff. The previous annual record for the corporation was reached last year with 61 releases. However, SpaceX spokespeople have stated that they aim to launch 144 times in 2024, so we should expect even more spaceflight activity from them next year.
