Doubleheader: SpaceX Launches 2 Falcon 9 Starlink Missions From Florida & California
Doubleheader: SpaceX Launches 2 Falcon 9 Starlink Missions From Florida & California
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Within about 6 hours overnight(Jan. 28-29), SpaceX launched two rockets, each carrying a batch of its Starlink internet satellites, to low Earth orbit. The doubleheader comes as Americans and the space industry mark the somber anniversary of Jan. 28, 1986, when NASA's space shuttle Challenger broke apart less than two minutes after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts on board.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. (H/t SpaceX)
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink satellites launched at 2315 UTC on Sunday, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Another Falcon 9 topped with 22 more satellites, lifted off at 0557 UTC on Monday, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
As usual, Both Falcon 9's first stages, each came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, landing on a SpaceX drone ship stationed at sea. According to SpaceX, this is the 18th and 9th launch and landings for the boosters flying from KSC and Vandenberg respectively. The company's reuse record is 19 launches, set by a Falcon 9 just last month.
As expected, the Falcon 9 upper stages meanwhile, continued their journey and deployed the Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit a little over an hour after their liftoffs.
These were the eighth and ninth launches of the year for SpaceX, which has said it's aiming for 144 orbital missions in 2024. A Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch Northrop Grumman's robotic Cygnus cargo craft this week, on its resupply mission to the International Space Station.
WATCH the doubleheader launches of SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink missions.
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