SpaceX Launches 24 Starlink Satellites from Florida, Lands Rocket at Sea After Weather Delay (Video)

by Junna Base November 12, 2024

SpaceX launched 24 new Starlink internet satellites into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast today (November 11), landing a rocket at sea in the second of consecutive launches.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft soared into the afternoon sky over Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 4:28 p.m. EST (2128 GMT) on Monday. The launch was originally scheduled for Sunday evening, but was delayed due to “unfavorable recovery weather conditions,” according to SpaceX. It was also pushed back by almost half an hour on launch day.

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 24 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on November 11, 2024.(Image credit: SpaceX)

Approximately 8 minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 first stage returned to Earth for a vertical landing on SpaceX’s A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

According to a SpaceX mission description, it was the twelfth launch and landing of this particular booster. Five of the eleven flights so far have been Starlink missions.

Meanwhile, the Falcon 9’s upper stage continued to carry the 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) and was scheduled to station them there about 65 minutes after launch.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster lands after launching 24 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on November 11, 2024.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket booster lands after launching 24 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on November 11, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Monday’s launch followed another Starlink mission that launched early Saturday morning (November 9) from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base. It also happened just over four hours after another Falcon 9 rocket launched the Koreasat-6A communications satellite from NASA’s Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier Monday.

SpaceX has now launched 106 Falcon 9 missions in 2024. Almost 70% of this was dedicated to building the Starlink mega-constellation, which currently consists of more than 6,500 active spacecraft.

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