CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE — Weather was a non-issue Saturday night as SpaceX successfully sent up another batch of Starlink satellites.

What You Need To Know

  • The mission lifted off at 10:17 p.m. ET

  • More than 20 Starlink satellites were sent to orbit

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket left from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:17 p.m. ET, stated the California-based company.

In a rare event, SpaceX did not use any of its five backup launch attempts for the Starlink 6-24 mission. It is not uncommon for SpaceX to push back a launch due to either a mechnical porblem or the more common weather issue. 

And weather was not an issue on Saturday night. The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 95% chance of good launch weather for Saturday night’s Starlink 6-24 mission, with the only concern being liftoff winds.

Learn about NASA’s weather criteria for the Falcon 9 rocket.

Going up into the black

Before this launch, SpaceX’s first-stage booster B1080 has only three missions to its name:

After the first-stage separation, the Falcon 9’s booster landed on A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship that was out in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

The Starlink 6-24 mission sent up 23 satellites to low-Earth orbit, where they joined thousands of others as they provide internet service to many parts of the globe.

Starlink is owned and operated by SpaceX.

Before the launch, astronomer Dr. Jonathan McDowell of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics recorded the current information on the Starlink satellites:

  • 4,924 are in orbit
  • 4,895 in working order
  • 4,394 are in operational orbit

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