KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — While many were asleep in their warm beds, SpaceX launched more than 20 Starlink satellites early Tuesday morning. 

What You Need To Know

  • SpaceX launched another 20 Starlink satellites on Jan. 21

  • SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket took off from Launch Complex 39A 

The Falcon 9 rocket launched the Starlink 13-1 mission from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A at 12:24 a.m. ET, stated SpaceX. 

Going up

This became the eighth mission for the Falcon 9's first-stage booster B1083. Its previous missions include two crewed launches:

  1. Crew-8 launch
  2. Polaris Dawn mission
  3. Starlink 6-48 mission
  4. Starlink 6-56 mission
  5. CRS-31
  6. Starlink 6-65 mission
  7. Astranis

After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket booster landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas that was in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

The 21 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

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

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

Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

  • 6,944 are in orbit
  • 6,242 are in operational orbit

 

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