The day before, a Falcon 9 rocket launched 23 small Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Falcon 9 launch on Sunday night was the 29th targeted launch of Starlink satellites in 2024. This was reported by UNN with reference to Satnews.
Details
SpaceX has launched a series of Starlink high-speed Internet satellites. The Falcon 9 launch on Sunday night marks the 29th dedicated Starlink satellite launch in 2024.
The Starlink 6-54 mission was launched at 18:08 Eastern Time (22:08 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).
The 23 Starlink satellites joined the 5,874 satellites currently in orbit, according to data compiled on April 24 by astronomer and orbital tracking expert Jonathan McDowell. Prior to this launch, 633 Starlink satellites had been launched in 2024.
For reference
In 2024, this will be SpaceX's 81st attempt to launch into orbit, the 343rd mission, and the 43rd this year.
SpaceX has not publicly announced that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of Starlink Internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40, but a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigation alert shows that this launch window will open on Sunday, April 28, 2024.
Recall
SpaceX, owned by American billionaire Elon Musk, is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a secret contract with the US intelligence service.
The Pentagon paid SpaceX $23 million to deploy Starlink terminals in Ukraine as part of US security assistance.