SpaceX launched more of its internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast today (Jan. 8).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 GMT) on Wednesday.
To plan, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff. It touched down on the drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas," which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the third launch and landing for this particular booster, which had flown one previous Starlink mission, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9's upper stage continued to haul the Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they were set to be deployed about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever deployed — and it's continuously growing, as today's launch demonstrated. There are currently more than 6,850 active Starlink spacecraft in LEO, according to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
