Washington, April 30: A Falcon 9 booster successfully carried 53 more Starlink mini-communications satellites into low earth orbit,
SpaceX announced. The launch was podcast live and the rocket blasted off on schedule at 5:27 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, SpaceX said on Friday. The first stage booster on the mission was previously used only three weeks earlier to launch the manned Axiom-1 private astronauts’ mission to the International Space Station. It was the fastest turnaround use yet of any recycled booster in the Falcon 9 program, SpaceX said. The first stage booster again successfully landed as the 117th recovery of a birth stage booster and the second stage of the rocket separated and fired on schedule, sending the satellite payload into a good orbit, SpaceX added. The first stage booster supporting this mission previously launched GPS III Space Vehicle 04, GPS III Space Vehicle 05, Inspiration4, one Starlink mission and most recently the Axiom-1 mission on April 8. Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth and land on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. (UNI)
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