SpaceX launches 54 Starlink satellites, lands rocket on ship at sea

Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has launched 54 more of its Starlink broadband satellites in orbit and landed a rocket on a ship at sea on Saturday night

SpaceX
Representative image
IANS San Francisco
2 min read Last Updated : Aug 28 2022 | 7:21 PM IST

Elon Musk-owned SpaceX has launched 54 more of its Starlink broadband satellites in orbit and landed a rocket on a ship at sea on Saturday night.

According to space.com, a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 54 Starlink spacecraft, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida Saturday at 11:41 p.m. EDT (0341 GMT) on August 28.

That was about 80 minutes later than initially planned, as SpaceX waited for some bad weather to clear.

A little less than nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9's first stage came down to Earth for a landing on the SpaceX drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.

Later, the upper stage of the Falcon 9 launched the Starlink satellites into space, eventually putting all 54 of them into low Earth orbit as intended roughly 15 minutes after takeoff.

"Squeezing extra performance out of Falcon 9 -- almost at 17 metric tons to an actual useful orbit with booster and fairing reusable!" Musk tweeted after the launch.

As per the report, the most recent launch for SpaceX was the 38th of 2022, surpassing the company's previous record for most orbital missions in a calendar year. It was the year's 24th flight specifically focused on Starlink, SpaceX's massive broadband constellation.

--IANS

vc/vd

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Subscribe to Business Standard digital and get complimentary access to The New York Times

Quarterly Starter

₹900

3 Months

₹300/Month

SAVE 25%

Smart Essential

₹2,700

1 Year

₹225/Month

Save 46%

Super Saver

₹3,900

2 Years

₹162/Month

Subscribe

Renews automatically, cancel anytime

Here’s what’s included in our digital subscription plans

Access to Exclusive Premium Stories Online

  • Over 30 behind the paywall stories daily, handpicked by our editors for subscribers

Complimentary Access to The New York Times

  • News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter & The Athletic

Business Standard Epaper

  • Digital replica of our daily newspaper — with options to read, save, and share

Curated Newsletters

  • Insights on markets, finance, politics, tech, and more delivered to your inbox

Market Analysis & Investment Insights

  • In-depth market analysis & insights with access to The Smart Investor

Archives

  • Repository of articles and publications dating back to 1997

Ad-free Reading

  • Uninterrupted reading experience with no advertisements

Seamless Access Across All Devices

  • Access Business Standard across devices — mobile, tablet, or PC, via web or app

More From This Section

Topics :SpaceXSpaceX rocketsSpaceX satellite

First Published: Aug 28 2022 | 7:21 PM IST

Next Story