SpaceX launched a stack of Starlink internet satellites to orbit from California and returned the booster to Earth Friday afternoon (March 26).
The Falcon 9 rocket flying the mission, Starlink 11-7, carried a total of 27 satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California. The SpaceX rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex-4E at 6:11:40 p.m. ET (2211 GMT).1
A little more than eight minutes later, the rocket’s first-stage booster, B1063, touched down on the SpaceX droneship “Of Course I Still Love You,” stationed in the Pacific Ocean. It was the 24th launch and landing for B1063, which has previously flown 15 Starlink missions, including its most recent, a Starlink mission in January.
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9 upper stage will continue to space to deploy the Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) about 60 minutes after liftoff.
Those satellites join a megaconstellation of over 7,100 Starlink satellites in LEO, according to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell. Together, the globe-wide orbital mesh offers low-latency, high-speed internet to Starlink customers around the planet.
