SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, USA at 2101 GMT on 29 March. The vehicle carried a payload of 56 Starlink Group 5-10 satellites.
All of the satellites onboard were deployed around 65 minutes after lift off, as planned.
While the second stage pushed the Starlink batch into low Earth orbit (LEO), the B1077 first stage landed on the drone barge “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic. Including drone ship and return to launch site landings, the latest successful landing marked the 182nd one for SpaceX, which has attempted 193 altogether to date.
The latest batch will add to the SpaceX’s growing global internet constellation: it has already launched over 4,000 Starlinks. The company, which has permission to launch 12,000 satellites in LEO, is seeking to launch an additional 30,000 satellites for a second-generation constellation.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 successfully launched from Cape Canaveral. Courtesy: SpaceX.
Jonathan Freeman contributed to this story.
