A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 21 Starlink internet satellites to orbit from California early Saturday morning (Oct. 21).
The Falcon 9 lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday at 4:23 a.m. EDT (0823 GMT; 1:23 a.m. local California time).
The Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth safely as planned, touching down at sea on the SpaceX drone ship Of Course I Still Love You about 8.5 minutes after launch.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
It was the 16th flight for this particular rocket’s first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description. That’s one shy of the company’s reuse record, which was set last month.
The 21 Starlink satellites, meanwhile, deployed on schedule from the Falcon 9’s upper stage about 62.5 minutes after launch, SpaceX confirmed in a post on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The liftoff was the 75th orbital mission for SpaceX in 2023. The company is aiming for 100 flights by the end of this year and 144 in 2024.
About 60% of this year’s flights have been dedicated to building out Starlink, SpaceX’s internet megaconstellation. Starlink currently consists of nearly 4,900 operational satellites, and that number will continue to grow far into the future.
