SpaceX confirmed the launch of 21 new Starlink satellites into orbit early Tuesday (August 22), after a day-long delay due to the impact of Hurricane Hilary.
This marks the 15th launch and landing of the Falcon 9 rocket.
“Due to Hurricane Hilary impacting recovery operations in the Pacific, we are standing down from tonight’s Falcon 9 launch of Starlink,” said SpaceX, on X (formerly Twitter), on Thursday.
Taking off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, a Falcon 9 rocket transported the Starlink spacecraft at 5:37 a.m. EDT (0937 GMT; 2:37 a.m. local California time).
The launch was originally scheduled for August 17 but experienced a one-day delay. Subsequently, Hurricane Hilary’s impact on rocket recovery operations led to an additional four-day postponement.
Following liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage made a safe return to Earth, landing on SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” approximately 8.5 minutes after launch, as reported by Space.com.
This particular booster has achieved its 15th successful launch and landing, as detailed in a SpaceX mission description. It’s just one launch shy of the company’s reuse record, which is shared by two different Falcon 9 first stages.
SpaceX has already launched almost 5,000 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) up to this point.
Elon Musk’s company has been granted authorisation to deploy 12,000 Starlink satellites in LEO. Furthermore, SpaceX has submitted an application to an international regulatory body for clearance to launch an additional 30,000 spacecraft on top of the existing plans.
