If you got a nickel every time SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites, you wouldn’t be rich, but you’d have a lot of nickels.
It was the eighth flight for the first stage of this Falcon 9 booster, known as 1093, which completed a stage separation and successful deceleration burns, then aced a landing on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
B1093 will now ride that ship, called “Of Course I Still Love You,” back to port for refurbishment and future launches.
Previous Booster 1093 launches
While B1093 made its way back to Earth, the Falcon 9’s upper stage continued toward LEO, carrying the 28 Starlink satellites to their deployment point, where they are scheduled to be released about an hour into flight.
They’ll join more than 8,800 other spacecraft in the Starlink megaconstellation, which provides wireless internet service to customers across the globe.
Today’s launch was the 142nd Falcon 9 mission of the year, and the 102nd devoted to building out the Starlink network.