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SpaceX marked 50 launches of its Starlink satellite constellation Thursday with July’s first Falcon 9 mission from Florida.
The 911am ET Falcon 9 launch put another set of 53 internet-enabled Starlink satellites into orbit shortly after jumping off the LC-40 launch pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This was the 13th launch for this particular booster, a feat matched by only one other booster in SpaceX’s inventory.
The satellites will drift apart in the coming weeks as they increase their orbits to reach a final destination about 350 miles above Earth’s surface.
More:Rocket Launch Schedule: Upcoming Florida Launches and Landings
Thursday’s deployment brings the total number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 2,500 since the first mission launched in 2019. If SpaceX keeps up, that number will rise above 3,000 by the end of the year.
The company now offers basic satellite internet plans starting at $110 per month with service available in part of North America, Europe and Australia. In addition, SpaceX recently began offering an RV satellite internet dish option available nationwide.
About nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage flipped for a return trip. SpaceX confirmed that the rocket landed a short time later on the “Just Read the Instructions” drone ship, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The booster should return to Port Canaveral in a few days and be towed aboard the drone vessel by tug.
In addition, SpaceX indicated that the fairing halves — or the protective nose cones that surrounded the Starlink satellites en route to Earth orbit — would also be scooped out of the water and returned to eventually be reused for another mission.
SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 launch is expected to be the CRS-25 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. That mission will launch from pad 39A from the Kennedy Space Center and is scheduled for no earlier than Thursday, July 14.
For the latest, go to floridatoday.com/launchschedule.
Jamie Groh is a space reporter for Florida Today. You can contact her at [email protected] follow her Twitter at @AlteredJamie†