SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 shortly after midnight Sunday with 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Screenshot from SpaceX
Dec. 8 (UPI) — SpaceX early Sunday launched 23 Starlink spacecraft from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
The 229-foot tall Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 40 at 12:11 a.m. as it lit up the sky.
The first stage booster landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship on the Atlantic Ocean 8 1/2 minutes later.
This was the second time this booster launched with the NOAA GOES-U satellite lifted in late June.
At 1:22 a.m., the Starlink satellites were deployed into orbit, including 13 with direct-to-cell service for mobile customers.
It was the 123rd Falcon 9 liftoff of the year.
SpaceX has launched more than 80 Starlink missions so far in 2024.
There are more than 6,800 operational Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.
On Wednesday in California, SpaceX marked the 300th time SpaceX successfully returned the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket in the company’s history. Starlink Mission 9-14 left the Vandenberg Space Force Station with 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell service.
“The first Starlink satellite direct-to-cell phone constellation is now complete,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said via X early Thursday morning. “This will enable unmodified cellphones to have internet connectivity in remote areas. Bandwidth per beam is only ~10Mb, but future constellations will be much more capable.”
In all, SpaceX has had 419 total launches with 381 landings.
SpaceX next plans to launch mPOWER-E satellites for SES during a launch window from 3:55 p.m. to 6:25 p.m. Thursday from Kennedy Space Center’s Pad 39A.