SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now

Replace Oct. 30, 5:37 p.m. EDT: SpaceX launches the Starlink 10-13 mission.

SpaceX launched its second of the day on Wednesday night with one other Starlink flight. This Falcon 9 rocket will add one other 23 Starlink satellites to the rising megaconstellation.

Liftoff of the Starlink 10-13 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral House Drive Station occurred at 5:10 p.m. EDT (2110 UTC).

Coming into the Wednesday launch alternative, the forty fifth Climate Squadron forecast circumstances to be 75 p.c favorable for liftoff. It mentioned the first considerations have been liftoff winds and cumulus clouds, noting wind speeds have been predicted to be between 20 to twenty-eight miles per hour.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail quantity B1078 within the SpaceX fleet, launched for a 14th time. It beforehand supported the launches of Crew-6, BlueBird-1, USSF-124 and 9 earlier Starlink missions.

Slightly greater than eight minutes after liftoff, B1078 landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ This was the 83rd booster touchdown for ASOG and the 361st booster touchdown up to now.

The Starlink 10-13 flight will convey the overall variety of Starlink satellites launched in 2024 to 1,565. Previous to the Wednesday night launch and following the Starlink 9-9 mission launch Wednesday morning, Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and knowledgeable orbital tracker famous that there have been 6,534 Starlink satellites remaining on orbit.