A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink satellites soared into the blue sky over California on Saturday (Sept. 6) after emerging 20 seconds into its flight from a fog layer typical of its launch site.
The booster lifted off at 2:06 p.m. EDT (1806 GMT or 11:06 a.m. PDT local time) from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base. The blue sky gave way to the blackness of space about 8 minutes and 4o seconds after leaving the ground.
The 24 Starlink internet broadband satellites (Group 17-2) were on course to be deployed into low Earth orbit about 53 minutes later.
For the 20th time, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage (booster 1075) successfully returned to a touchdown on its four landing legs atop a sea-based platform. The “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship was positioned in the Pacific Ocean.
The flight expanded SpaceX‘s megaconstellation designed to provide internet service to areas around the globe where connectivity is otherwise unavailable. Saturday’s 24 satellites added to the almost 9,000 units that comprise the network.
The mission was the 112th Falcon 9 launch of the year and 530th since 2010.
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