SpaceX carried out yet another successful mission as its Falcon 9 took off at 8:25 a.m. EDT, 12:25 UTC, from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center for its fourteenth Starlink mission. The mission launched 60 Starlink satellites to orbit.
RELATED: SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 CARRYING 60 MORE STARLINK SATELLITES
Static fire test complete – targeting Sunday, October 18 at 8:25 a.m. EDT for Falcon 9’s launch of 60 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 17, 2020
As SpaceX had planned, less than ten minutes after the launch, the Falcon 9 first stage booster returned safely to land on SpaceX's drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" sailing out in the Atlantic. The event marks this booster's sixth launch and landing.
T-30 minutes until Falcon 9’s launch of SpaceX’s fourteenth Starlink mission; weather is 70% favorable and the webcast will go live ~15 minutes before liftoff https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 18, 2020
There are already 700 satellites in space that will soon make up a large orbital, broadband network to provide internet service to distant places around the world that lack access. Plans are also underway for about 12,000 satellites to round out the constellation.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship pic.twitter.com/mGBLwsC6Gs
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 18, 2020
"As our Starlink network is still in its early stages, the Starlink team continues to test the system, collecting latency data and performing speed tests of the service. The team also recently installed Starlinks on the Administrative Center building and about 20 private homes on the Hoh Tribe Reservation, located in a remote area of western Washington State where internet access is limited or completely unavailable," reads SpaceX's Starlink Mission webpage.
SpaceX further confirmed on their Twitter account that the 60 new satellites were indeed deployed.
Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/QVv8m7gClz
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 18, 2020