CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — It was a chilly morning for anyone who stayed up late to watch SpaceX launch nearly 30 Starlink satellites launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station very early Friday morning.
With Friday morning’s launch of the Starlink 6-101 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, more than 11,000 Starlink satellites are now in orbit around the Earth
What You Need To Know
- More than 11,000 Starlink satellites have been launched since 2019
Going up
This is only the fifth mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster and all four of its missions have been Starlink launches.
After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket will land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that will be in the Atlantic Ocean.
About the mission
The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.
Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.
And we do mean thousands. Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites and their launches.
And according to his records, there have been 11,034 Starlink satellites that have been launched since the very first batch in 2019.
But not all of them are fully operational. Or at all. Some are no longer in working order because of age, technical mishaps, or being directed to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:
- 9,573 are in orbit
- 8,297 are in operational orbit
Anthony Leone
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