On a Wednesday night in mid-August, a rocket rose from the Florida coast carrying twenty-two small satellites into the dark, each one a fragment of a network meant to carry the internet to nearly anywhere on the planet. It is one more stitch in a fabric already woven across the sky, and it belongs to a quieter human story: the steady reach of people to link distant places through invisible signals. The rocket's returning booster, settling onto a ship at sea, hints at a new habit of reuse that is making such reaching routine.
SpaceX Launches 22 More Starlink Satellites from Cape Canaveral on Its 56th Mission of 2023
Two coasts, 43 satellites, about five hours
On a Wednesday night in mid-August, a rocket rose from the Florida coast carrying twenty-two small satellites into the dark, each one a fragment of a network meant to carry the internet to nearly anywhere on the planet. It is one more stitch in a fabric already woven across the sky, and it belongs to a quieter human story: the steady reach of people to link distant places through invisible signals. The rocket's returning booster, settling onto a ship at sea, hints at a new habit of reuse that is making such reaching routine.
At 11:36 on Wednesday night, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Aboard were 22 Starlink satellites, headed for low-Earth orbit. SpaceX marked the moment on X with a single word: liftoff.
The satellites are joining a constellation that already numbers in the thousands. Its aim is high-speed, low-latency internet for people across the world, and every batch adds another piece to that web.
The first-stage booster was flying for the 13th time. Once its work was done, it returned to Earth and landed on an autonomous drone ship, the A Shortfall of Gravitas, waiting in the Atlantic. Reusing boosters like this is a big part of how SpaceX keeps such a rapid launch schedule going.
The pace is striking. This was the company's 56th launch of 2023 and its 255th overall, and by mid-August it had already flown more than fifty missions this year.
The night was not finished. Hours later, a second Falcon 9 was set to rise from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying 21 more Starlink satellites. Together, the two flights would place 43 satellites in orbit within about five hours, one from each coast. What remains to be seen is whether the California launch goes up on time and whether its booster is recovered as well.
At 11:36 on Wednesday night, Eastern time, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. On board were 22 Starlink satellites, bound for low-Earth orbit. SpaceX posted a one-word announcement of the moment on its account on X: liftoff.
The satellites joined a constellation that already numbers in the thousands. Its purpose is to provide high-speed, low-latency internet service around the world, and each batch adds to that network.
The rocket's first-stage booster was flying for the 13th time. After doing its work, it came back to Earth and set down on the autonomous drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which had been waiting for it in the Atlantic Ocean. Recovering and reflying boosters is central to how SpaceX sustains such a rapid launch schedule.
The numbers behind the night show that pace. This was SpaceX's 56th launch of 2023 and its 255th overall. Mid-August had barely arrived, and the company had already flown more than fifty missions in the year.
The Florida launch was also not the last of the night. Hours later, SpaceX planned to send up a second Falcon 9, this one from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. That rocket would carry 21 Starlink satellites, with liftoff scheduled for 1:42 a.m. Pacific time, which is 4:42 a.m. Eastern.
Taken together, the two flights would put 43 more Starlink satellites into orbit within about five hours, one from each coast. The next thing to watch is whether the California launch goes up on schedule and whether its booster is recovered as well.
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