SpaceX Launches 23 Starlink Satellites and Secretive X-37B Spaceplane in Dual Mission
SpaceX marked another successful mission on Thursday night as it launched 23 Starlink broadband internet spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The satellites were carried to low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:01 p.m. EST.
The Starlink launch, known as 6-36, was part of SpaceX’s 98th and final planned launch for 2023. The company has had a busy year with 91 Falcon 9 blast-offs, five Falcon Heavy launches, and two lift-offs for the company’s Starship launch system.
The space exploration company also launched a Falcon Heavy rocket earlier in the evening, carrying the secretive X-37B spaceplane. This was a dual mission for SpaceX, demonstrating the company’s ability to handle multiple launches in a single day.
The Dec. 28 Starlink launch was the 12th flight for the first-stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket, which has also carried cargo for missions such as CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19, in addition to conducting previous Starlink missions.
As of November 2023, the Starlink mega constellation consisted of over 5,200 operational broadband internet-providing small satellites in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX plans to deploy as many as 12,000 satellites for Starlink, with the potential to expand to 42,000.
While SpaceX did not reach its goal of 100 launches for 2023, the company has its sights set on its first launch of 2024, which will see a further 21 Starlink spacecraft carried to low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Tuesday, Jan. 2.