Falcon 9

The 39th and 40th launches of the year from Florida’s Space Coast are set to blast off Saturday night and Tuesday night on missions to deploy more satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink internet network, plus a rideshare payload for AST Space Mobile’s planned space-based cellular broadband network.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday night with 51 more Starlink internet satellites and a rideshare payload that will use a Spaceflight-built orbital transfer vehicle to climb into a higher orbit to test broadband communications technology for Boeing. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral occurred at 10:09 p.m. EDT Sunday (0209 GMT Monday).

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 46 more Starlink internet satellites overnight Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, completing a quartet of rapid-fire polar orbit Starlink missions from the West Coast spaceport since mid-July.

SpaceX closed out the month of August with another launch of 46 Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket occurred at 10:40:10 p.m. PDT Tuesday (1:40:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday).

SpaceX hauled another 54 Starlink internet satellites into orbit Saturday night from Cape Canaveral, setting a record for the heaviest payload ever launched by a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch occurred days after SpaceX and T-Mobile unveiled plans to use a new generation of Starlink spacecraft to provide ubiquitous connectivity to existing cell phones.

SpaceX rolled a Falcon 9 rocket to its launch pad at Cape Canaveral and test-fired its engines Thursday, prepping for liftoff Saturday night carrying another group of Starlink internet satellites into orbit. The Falcon 9 booster has been repaired after a rough recovery in December knocked it out of SpaceX’s rocket reuse rotation.

Fifty-three new Starlink internet satellites launched Friday from Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, adding more capacity to the largest fleet of spacecraft ever put into orbit.

SpaceX launched another batch of 53 Starlink internet satellites Friday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 3:21 p.m. EDT (1921 GMT) to loft the Starlink payloads into orbit, and the reusable first stage booster landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Another 53 Starlink internet satellites are ready to rocket into orbit Friday from Cape Canaveral on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The two-stage Falcon 9, powered by a reusable booster, will place the 53 internet relay nodes into a low-altitude transfer orbit.

SpaceX launched 46 more Starlink internet satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket Friday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, adding more broadband relay platforms to the polar-orbiting segment of the network.