SpaceX launched 20 Starlink web satellites from Florida on Friday (October 18), together with 13 with direct-to-cell functionality.
The liftoff occurred on Friday at 7:13 pm ET (4:43 am IST October 19 morning). Falcon 9 launched Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from House Launch Complicated 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral House Drive Station in Florida.
Within the footage, shared by SpaceX, after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage got here again to Earth about 8.5 minutes touchdown on the SpaceX drone ship “Simply Learn the Directions” within the Atlantic Ocean.
In the direction of the ending of the video, one of many break up is roofed with water droplets, due to the placement, however with a special angle the touchdown may very well be seen clearly.
Satellites touchdown on orbit (Screenshot of video shared by SpaceX)
“Watch Falcon 9 launch 20 @Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida, together with 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities,” SpaceX mentioned in a publish on X.
Watch video:
This marked the seventeenth profitable flight for the primary stage booster supporting this mission, which beforehand launched O3b mPOWER, OneWeb 2, Intelsat 40e, Maxar 2, Turksat-6A, Eutelsat 36X, Ovzon-3, CRS-26, and now 9 Starlink missions.
In 2024, SpaceX has been actively increasing its Starlink constellation, with a good portion of its launches devoted to this endeavor. Out of the 96 Falcon 9 missions carried out by the corporate this 12 months, roughly 64 have been centered on deploying Starlink satellites into orbit.
What’s ‘Simply Learn the directions’?
SpaceX has developed a novel answer to get better and reuse the primary stage of its launch autos, referred to as the booster, by using specifically designed ocean-going barges referred to as autonomous spaceport drone ships (ASDS). These vessels are outfitted with superior propulsion techniques that allow them to take care of a exact place on the water, in addition to a spacious touchdown platform. By efficiently recovering and reusing these boosters, SpaceX has achieved a big discount in the price of house launches.
At the moment, SpaceX has three ASDS in operation: “Simply Learn the Directions (II) (JRTI),” “A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG),” and “Of Course I Nonetheless Love You (OCISLY).” JRTI and ASOG are based mostly at Port Canaveral, the place they assist launches from Kennedy House Middle and Cape Canaveral House Drive Station, with landings going down within the Atlantic Ocean. OCISLY, alternatively, operates out of the Port of Lengthy Seaside, supporting launches from Vandenberg House Drive Base, with landings occurring within the Pacific Ocean.
