SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites from Florida, rocket lands at sea after weather delay (video)

On November 12, 2024By Littum

SpaceX launched 24 new Starlink Internet satellites into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast and landed a rocket on the ocean in the second of back-to-back launches today (November 11).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft streaked into the afternoon sky above the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday at 16:28 EST (2128 GMT). The launch was originally scheduled for Sunday evening, but was delayed due to “adverse recovery weather conditions,” according to SpaceX. It was also pushed back nearly half an hour on launch day.

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

About 8 minutes after launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth for a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

It was the 12th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Five of the previous 11 flights were Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued to carry the 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) and was expected to place them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.

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

Monday’s launch followed on the heels of another Starlink mission, which took off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base early Saturday morning (Nov. 9). It also came 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 by 2024. Almost 70% of them have been dedicated to building the Starlink mega-constellation, which currently consists of more than 6,500 active spacecraft.