SpaceX Launches 60 Starlink Satellites, Expand Services to UK, Germany and New Zealand
A Falcon 9 lit up the early morning Florida sky on Thursday, delivering an additional 60 Starlink satellites into orbit as SpaceX continues to build out its global broadband network.
Liftoff took place at 3:13 a.m. EST from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 60 Starlink broadband Internet satellites were successfully deployed into orbit.
SpaceX has launched 1,265 Starlink satellites, with 1,201 still in orbit. That means the company has launched about 10 percent of its global broadband constellation, which will total nearly 12,000 satellites.
It was the sixth launch and landing of the Falcon 9 first stage, which previously supported launch of NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station last May. The booster also supported the launches of ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and a Starlink mission.
SpaceX also announced that it was extending its Starlink service to parts of western Germany and New Zealand’s South Island. The company is also expanding coverage beyond southern England to include Wales, Scotland Northern Ireland and parts of northern England.
SpaceX’s next launch is scheduled for Sunday, March 14 at 5:44 a.m. (0944 GMT). A Falcon 9 will lift off with 60 Starlink satellites from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
14 responses to “SpaceX Launches 60 Starlink Satellites, Expand Services to UK, Germany and New Zealand”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Wow, not even a single comment hours after the launch. Congrats SpaceX. You’ve truly made American space launch a non-event. What an event. Party at my place!
3 AM launches = few viewers = few comments?
Yes, and someday folks will be saying same about the Starship/Super Heavy.
The way those things land????? That’s going to be a LONG time from now. 🙂
Yes, but it will happen eventually, it is just a matter of working out the details, something that Elon Musk is stubborn enough to do. It took Henry Ford years, all the way from the Model A to the Model T, to work out the bugs in his automobile.
Five years to be exact. And Ford skipped most of the letters between A and T, using only AC, B, C, F, K, N, R, and S. So fewer versions than you’d think. SS/SH is gonna take longer than 5 years and 8 intermediate versions.
Yes, but automobiles don’t tend toward doing a RUD when things go wrong. BTW the Ford Motor Company wasn’t the first automobile company Henry Ford founded. He also founded what would become Cadillac and then Lincoln before it.
Also don’t forget that the Falcon Booster that launching the Starlinks is technically a F-9 5R, having taken 5 versions of the Falcon 9 over a decade to reach this point.
Exactly my point. Comparing cars to rockets isn’t the best analogy.
No, but it illustrates the different design strategy that SpaceX is using compared to NASA, or if you want the different strategies between Dr. Langley and the Wright Brothers. That is why it is hard to predict when Starship will be ready for astronauts, but it will be a well tested vehicle with known characteristics when it is ready, unlike the Shuttle system that seemed to surprise NASA with its multiple accidents.
Next one will be flight 9 on the booster….so probably some more chatter one way or another.
Looks like these boosters are showing some personality as they age. It’s an exciting process to watch. Hope I live long enough for the real operations biography of the F9 to be written.
Congratulations! Making spaceflight routine as it should be.
The wheels of Juggernaut’s Carriage complete another revolution.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…