The satellites were carried into low-Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket which lifted off at 11:43 a.m. EDT.
The reusable first stage booster separated shortly after liftoff and returned to Earth where it landed on the "Shortfall of Gravitas" drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 8 minutes and 27 seconds after launch.
The first stage booster that ferried the satellites into orbit previously launched two Starlink missions along with the Crew-3 and Crew-4 missions and the CRS-22, CRS-25, Turksat 5B, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G and mPower-a missions.
The landing was the tenth so far for the first stage booster that launched the 56 Starlink satellites Friday.
Approximately nine minutes after liftoff the spacecraft completed nominal orbital insertion.
The mission was the 20th SpaceX launch this year and the 2019th overall.
SpaceX has launched 4,105 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, including 3,750 that are currently operational and has permission to send as many as 12,000 into orbit.
Friday's will be the company's 20th launch of the year with CEO Elon Musk estimating it could conduct as many as 100 orbital missions this year.
Related Links
Rocket Science News at Space-Travel.Com
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
