Cape Canaveral, Florida – SpaceX successfully launched another batch of Starlink high-speed internet satellites on Sunday evening, marking the 29th dedicated launch of Starlink satellites in 2024. The Falcon 9 rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster, known as tail number B1076 in SpaceX’s fleet, launched for the 13th time on this mission. It had previously been used for several other missions, including Ovzon 3, Intelsat IS-40e, SpaceX’s 26th Commercial Resupply Services flight, and six Starlink missions.
Following liftoff, the B1076 booster successfully landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ marking the 80th landing on JRTI and the 301st booster landing overall. SpaceX’s vice president of launch, Kiko Dontchev, highlighted the team’s accomplishment of completing a five-hour turnaround of JRTI at Port Canaveral between the droneship’s arrival and departure to support the mission.
The launch of the 23 Starlink satellites brought the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to 5,874. Prior to this launch, 633 Starlink satellites had been launched in 2024. SpaceX also announced that the Federated States of Micronesia had been added to the list of countries where Starlink service is available.
Additionally, the article discusses the SpaceX Cargo Dragon’s undocking from the International Space Station to begin its journey back to Earth. The Dragon spacecraft had been docked to the ISS for over 30 days and was returning with over 4,000 pounds of science experiments. This operation was a crucial step towards the launch of Boeing’s first crewed mission to the ISS using its Starliner spacecraft.
In preparation for Boeing’s mission, SpaceX needed to relocate its Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft from the forward-facing port to the space-facing port of the Harmony module. This maneuver was scheduled to take place on May 2. The successful launch of the Starlink satellites and the ongoing operations with Dragon spacecraft demonstrate SpaceX’s continued efforts in advancing space exploration and satellite technology.