SpaceX has launched 22 Starlink satellites on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, at 7:35 p.m. EST (or 00:35 UTC on January 24).
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has carried these Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to low-Earth orbit.
Watch the launch of this mission if you missed it:
This was the 16th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B, and now 11 Starlink missions, according to the statement from SpaceX.
The first stage booster is the reusable part of the Falcon 9 rocket. After stage separation, the first stage booster came back to Earth and landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
Only the second stage (upper stage) of the Falcon 9 rocket carried these satellites to the low-Earth orbit from the stage separation and deployed them about 62 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is the world’s first and largest satellite constellation, located in the low-Earth orbit, which provides satellite internet to the earth. Currently, it’s providing satellite internet access to over 70 countries.
As of January 21, 2024, SpaceX has launched 5739 Starlink satellites, of which 5352 are in low-Earth orbit and 5315 are in operational state, according to the report in Jonathan’s Space Pages. SpaceX has decided to deploy around 12,000 Starlink satellites in total.
The growing number of Starlink satellites in the low-Earth orbit is currently creating controversy because the bright train of Starlink satellites will interfere with night sky observation from the ground.
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