SpaceX has launched its last mission of the year.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 21 Starlink broadband internet satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, lifted off from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday (Dec. 31). The launch occurred at 12:34 a.m. EST (0534 GMT).
The launch marked SpaceX’s 134th Falcon flight in 2024, surpassing the company’s prior year total by 38 missions. Of this year’s launches, 89 were devoted to expanding the Starlink global network.
Tuesday’s launch is also SpaceX’s third Falcon Nine launch in three days, following a Starlink project unveiled from California and a four-satellite launch for Astranis from the company’s other launch pad in Florida, at the station. Cape Canaveral area.
As planned, the first level of the Falcon nine introduced by this project returned to Earth approximately 8 minutes after takeoff and landed aboard the “Just Read the Instructions” drone parked in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon level nine has effectively deployed all 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
This was the 16th flight for this particular first stage booster, according to a mission description posted to SpaceX’s website. It previously was used in the launch of Crew-6, BlueBird-1, USSF-124, mPOWER-B and 11 other Starlink missions.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever deployed and continues to grow, as demonstrated by Tuesday’s launch. There are currently more than 6,850 active Starlink spacecraft, according to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
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Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist, and founder and editor of CollectSPACE. com, a network and daily news publication committed to space history with a special focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributor to Space . com and co-author of “Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space,” published through Smithsonian Books in 2018. In 2009, he was inducted into the US space program. USA Camp Hall. of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored through the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Space Flight History. In 2023, the National Space Club Florida committee awarded Pearlman the Kolcum Prize for News and Communications. for its excellence in telling the story of the area along the Space Coast and around the world.
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