SpaceX Launches 23 Satellites into Starlink Constellation

The Falcon 9 rocket carries Starlink from Florida (photo: Twitter @SpaceX)

JAKARTA – SpaceX, the commercial space company owned by Elon Musk, launched the Starlink satellite again on Monday, January 8 at 05.35 a.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB). The company launched 23 Starlink satellites.

As usual, Starlink was launched on a Falcon 9 rocket. The two-stage rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. SpaceX only confirmed the separation of the rocket stage about 5 minutes after launch.

When separation was carried out, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket returned to Earth about 8.5 minutes after launch. This first stage has landed perfectly on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas sitting off the coast of Florida.

The booster first stage used in this launch has been flown sixteen times, including on this launch. In addition to Starlink launches, these boosters were flown on missions CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, and many more.

While the first stage returns to Earth, the Falcon 9's second stage continues to propel 23 Starlink satellites into space. At 06.41 a.m. Western Indonesian Time (WIB), the upper stage just deployed Starlink to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

This Starlink launch will be SpaceX's third launch and the second Starlink launch in 2024. The plan is that SpaceX will launch 144 space missions this year, beating the previous year's record.

Last year, SpaceX targeted 100 launch missions, but the company failed to reach their target. With the last launch on Friday, December 29, SpaceX only succeeded in launching 98 space missions.