A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off for a story-tying 12th time on Thursday (April 21) — and aced its 12th landing as effectively.
The 2-stage Falcon 9 launched Thursday at 1: 51 p.m. EDT (1751 GMT) from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Pickle Force Teach, carrying 53 of SpaceX’s Starlink web satellites to orbit.
It used to be the 12th liftoff for this explicit Falcon 9 first stage, tying a SpaceX reuse story set aside trusty closing month on a assorted Starlink beginning. And it probably is doubtlessly now not this booster’s closing flight; about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, it came down for a real landing on the SpaceX droneship Just Learn The Directions, which used to be stationed within the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida wing.
The Falcon 9’s second stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the Starlink spacecraft to orbit. If all goes essentially based fully mostly on understanding, all 53 satellites would perhaps be deployed by an hour after beginning.
Linked: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos
The Starlink megaconstellation affords web service to possibilities all over the field, in conjunction with in Ukraine. If truth be told, SpaceX, in partnership with the U.S. Company for World Kind, has sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine to attend the nation take care of communications capabilities, which had been degraded by the continuing Russian invasion.
SpaceX has launched extra than 2,300 Starlink satellites to this point but plans to loft many extra. The next-know-how version of the megaconstellation would possibly perhaps most probably perhaps most probably additionally consist of as a lot as 30,000 spacecraft, essentially based fully mostly on forms filed by the firm.
And Starlink satellites had been going up at brisk slide now not too lengthy ago; 9 of the 15 missions that SpaceX has launched to this point this year had been devoted Starlink flights.
But every other of these 15 used to be a crewed flight — the April 8 beginning of the Ax-1 mission, which sent four non-public astronauts to the World Pickle Teach. And SpaceX has every other crewed flight rising soon as effectively — the Crew-4 mission for NASA, that can ship four reliable spaceflyers to the orbiting lab for a lengthy terminate.
Crew-4 is at instruct scheduled to steal off no earlier than April 26. That date now not too lengthy ago slipped a few days attributable to irascible climate within the projected splashdown zone for Ax-1, which pushed that mission’s deliberate departure from the situation from Tuesday (April 19) to Saturday (April 23). NASA officials have faith said they wish a minimal of a two-day window between Ax-1’s splashdown and Crew-4’s beginning.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Huge Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a e book regarding the leer for alien life. Practice him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Practice us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Fb.