CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — SpaceX successfully launched another batch of Starlink satellites in the early morning hours Saturday.

The company's Falcon 9 rocket carried the Starlink Group 12-8 from Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:14 a.m. A batch of 21 Starlink satellites were sent into low-Earth orbit.

Roughly eight minutes after eight minutes after launch, a successful booster landing on the droneship, named "A Shortfall of Gravitas," stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Going up into the blue

This is the 26th flight for the first-stage booster, which previously launched:

After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket is expected to land on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

The 21 satellites from the Starlink company joined the more than 7,000 that are already in low-Earth orbit.

Once deployed, and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

SpaceX owns the Starlink company.

Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been documenting Starlink satellites.

Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

  • 7,030 are in orbit

  • 6,264 are in operational orbit