Aug. 16 (UPI) — SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of nearly two dozen Starlink satellites into space from Florida’s famed Cape Canaveral late Wednesday.
The rocket launched at 11:36 p.m. EDT from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/beKNtgwhkc— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 17, 2023
The mission deployed 22 additional Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit where they will join a constellation of thousands that provide high-speed, low latency Internet worldwide.
The first-stage booster, which was on its 13th flight, successfully returned to Earth were it landed upon the autonomous barge A Shortfall of Gravitas that had awaited its return in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch — which was SpaceX’s 56th of the year and 255th overall — came hours before SpaceX was to launch a second Falcon 9 rocket with a payload of 21 Starlink orbitals from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 1:42 am PT, or 4:42 a.m. EDT.
