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Space
Space
Science
Mike Wall

SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites from Florida, its 7th liftoff in a week (video)

A black-and-white spacex falcon 9 rocket launches into a blue sky.

SpaceX launched 24 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast this morning (Nov. 21), continuing a very busy stretch for the company.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 11:07 a.m. EST (1607 GMT), the beginning of a nearly four-hour-long window.

The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff as planned, touching down on the SpaceX droneship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic Ocean.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 24 Starlink satellites from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Nov. 21, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

It was the 20th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Sixteen of those flights have been Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9's upper stage continued hauling the 24 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO); it will deploy them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket sits on the deck of a drone ship shortly after launching 24 Starlink satellites from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Nov. 21, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Today's launch was the seventh for SpaceX in the past week, and the sixth flown by a Falcon 9 in that span.

The other recent liftoff was the sixth-ever test flight of SpaceX's Starship megarocket. That mission, which occurred on Tuesday (Nov. 19), was a success; both stages of the giant vehicle aced their ocean splashdowns as planned.

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