Update May 23, 7 p.m. EDT: SpaceX landed its first stage booster on the droneship.
SpaceX sent another a batch of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Friday afternoon. The mission also had the distinction of being the company’s 450th successful booster landing.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California happened at 3:32 p.m. PDT (6:32 p.m. EDT, 2232 UTC).
The mission, dubbed Starlink 11-16, carried 27 satellites onboard. With this flight, SpaceX has launched a total of 8,700 Starlink satellites into orbit, of which more than 7,500 remain in orbit, according to expert orbital tracker, Jonathan McDowell.
SpaceX used Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1075, which made its 18th flight. It’s previous missions include Transporter-11, SARah-2 and 14 batches of Starlink satellites.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1075 landed on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ In addition to the 450th booster landing, this was the 131st booster landing for OCISLY and the 361st droneship landing.
