Dec. 23 (UPI) — Shortly after midnight on Monday, SpaceX launched a new round of 21 Starlink satellites into lower Earth orbit, 13 of which can contact cell phones directly.
The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:35 a.m., EDT. The first stage, making its 15th trip, landed safely on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions” about eight minutes after the launch. Seven of the 15 flights were related to Starlink missions.
The satellites were deployed into lower Earth orbit 65 minutes after launch.
Monday’s launch was SpaceX’s 129th Falcon 9 rocket this year. Two-thirds of those flights have been dedicated to the continued growth of the Starlink constellation, designed to help deliver Internet service to anywhere in the world.
There are roughly 6,800 active Starlink satellites around the globe currently.
The flight followed an aborted mission in Florida on Saturday, which was supposed to be part of a dual flight with one in California. That flight was supposed to lift four Astranis satellites into space late Friday but was called off after missing a backup opportunity on early Saturday from Cape Canaveral.
Saturday morning’s mid-inclination rideshare mission took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California without any major hiccups.
