SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a payload of 20 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:31 p.m. EDT Friday.
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, from Cape Canaveral. The first-stage booster returned to Earth, landing on the drone ship 'Just Read the Instructions'. This launch marks the 17th mission for the booster, supporting various missions including OneWeb 2 and Intelsat 40e.
SpaceX on Friday successfully launched a satellites. The payload includes 13 satellites equipped with Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff occurred at 7:31 pm ET from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The space organization confirmed the launch in a post on X, stating, "Deployment of 20 Starlink satellites confirmed."
The Falcon 9's first stage booster successfully returned to Earth approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff as planned, landing on the SpaceX drone ship 'Just Read the Instructions' in the Atlantic Ocean.
Meanwhile the upper stage continued its mission to transport the Starlink Satellites to the low Earth orbit. Their deployment is expected about 64 minutes after liftoff, provided everything proceeds as planned.
This mission marked the 17th launch and landing of the Falcon 9's first-stage booster, which had previously supported several important missions. These missions include mPOWER-C, OneWeb 2, Intelsat 40e, Digital Globe 2, Turksat-6A, Eutelsat 36X, Ovzon-3, CRS-26, and eight other Starlink missions.
Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) is a SpaceX autonomous spaceport droneship (ASDS) stationed at Port Canaveral, Florida. Built on the modified barge Marmac 303, JRTI features a large landing platform, station-keeping thrusters, and specialized equipment, allowing Falcon boosters to land at sea during high-velocity missions where a return-to-launch-site isn’t possible.
Initially based in California from 2015 to 2019 for Pacific Ocean missions, JRTI moved to Florida in 2019 to support the growing number of launches from Cape Canaveral. It is the second SpaceX droneship to bear the name, originally inspired by Iain M. Banks’ Culture series.