Falcon 9

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 3:07 p.m. PDT (6:07 p.m. EDT; 2207 GMT) Friday with 53 Starlink internet satellites. The booster landed on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean.

Weather permitting, SpaceX teams in California and Florida plan to launch two Falcon 9 rockets Friday and Saturday, each hauling 53 more Starlink satellites to join the company’s global broadband network.

The four-person crew who will fly on the all-private Polaris Dawn mission — set to include the first commercial spacewalk and the debut of SpaceX’s extravehicular spacesuit — will begin training this month for their ride on a Dragon spacecraft to an altitude more than three times higher than the International Space Station.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at first light Friday with 53 Starlink internet satellites, completing an all-nighter of space operations just five hours after returning four astronauts to a splashdown off the west coast of Florida.

SpaceX launched another batch of 53 Starlink internet satellites at 5:42 a.m. EDT (0942 GMT) Friday from the Kennedy Space Center. The booster nailed its landing on SpaceX’s drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, completing its 12th flight to space.

SpaceX raised a Falcon 9 rocket vertical on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center Thursday, ready for a pre-sunrise blastoff Friday with 53 more Starlink internet satellites, using a booster stage flying for a record-tying 12th time.

SpaceX continued throttling up its launch rate with another Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Friday, completing a rapid recycle with a Falcon 9 first stage booster flying for the second time in 21 days.

SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 5:27 p.m. EDT (2127 GMT) Friday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. A booster that previously flew just 21 days ago powered 53 more Starlink internet satellites into space.

With a mission Friday to deploy more Starlink internet satellites, SpaceX will try to shave nearly a week off the company’s previous record for the shortest time between two launches of the same Falcon 9 booster. The first stage on Friday’s mission is scheduled to fly just 21 days after its previous launch and landing.