This morning, Sunday (March 14th), a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a new batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites. The rocket was seen to have lifted off from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center carrying a stack of Starlink satellites to orbit.
According to SpaceX, this is the largest structural load that the vehicle will see during ascent and landed a record nine times. Nine minutes after it took off, it returned to Earth to attempt its 9th landing on SpaceX’s drone ship.
A few days ago, a different Falcon 9 rocket had taken off from neighbouring Space Launch Complex 40, at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It lit up the predawn sky early in the morning of March 11th, also carried 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit. It then nailed its landing on a floating platform at sea. The launch was originally planned to occur on Tuesday night (March 9) but was pushed back so SpaceX could conduct more prelaunch checkouts.
Both missions delivered a full stack of 60 Starlink satellites to orbit, helping SpaceX inch ever-closer to fill its initial constellation of 1,440 satellites. There was no single cloud in the sky.
As a result, many onlookers were amazed at the sight of the rocket climbing to orbit. Below the horizon, the sun illuminated the rocket’s plume creating a dazzling space jellyfish in the sky. This type of phenomenon only occurs at dawn and dusk.
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