Home News Spaceflight The very first half of SpaceX’s St. Patrick’s Day doubleheader worked out. The business aced its 18th orbital objective of 2023 on Friday (March 17), introducing 52 of its Starlink web satellites to orbit and landing a rocket on a ship at sea. A Falcon 9 rocket bring the broadband craft took off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:26 p.m. EDT (1926 GMT; 12:26 p.m. regional California time). Related: 8 manner ins which SpaceX has actually changed spaceflight A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket bring 52 Starlink satellites takes off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on March 17, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)Just under 9 minutes later on, the Falcon 9’s very first phase returned to Earth for an identify goal on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean. It was the 8th objective for this specific booster, SpaceX composed in an objective description (opens in brand-new tab). The rocket’s upper phase, on the other hand, continued transporting the Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit, releasing all of them as prepared about 15.5 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX verified by means of Twitter (opens in brand-new tab). The recently introduced satellites are signing up with more than 3,700 functional spacecraft (opens in brand-new tab) in SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation. And that number will continue growing far into the future: SpaceX has approval to release 12,000 Starlink satellites and has actually used for authorization for another 30,000. The very first phase of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests on among the business’s drone ships quickly after landing on March 17, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)SpaceX has another objective on tap today: Another Falcon 9 is set up to introduce the SES-18 and SES-19 telecoms satellites to orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT). You can see it here at Space.com, thanks to SpaceX, or straight by means of the business (opens in brand-new tab). Protection is anticipated to start about 15 minutes prior to liftoff. Mike Wall is the author of “Out There (opens in brand-new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; shown by Karl Tate), a book about the look for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in brand-new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in brand-new tab) or on Facebook (opens in brand-new tab). Join our Space Forums to keep talking area on the current objectives, night sky and more! And if you have a news idea, correction or remark, let us understand at: community@space.com. Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com (opens in brand-new tab) and signed up with the group in 2010. He mostly covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military area, however has actually been understood to meddle the area art beat. His book about the look for alien life, “Out There,” was released on Nov. 13, 2018. Prior to ending up being a science author, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science composing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To learn what his most current task is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
SpaceX launches 52 Starlink satellites, lands rocket at sea
