SpaceX successfully launches nearly 30 Starlink satellites

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — The weather was looking pretty fine as SpaceX launched nearly 30 Starlink satellites on Wednesday morning. 

The Falcon 9 rocket sent up Starlink 10-22 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX. 

The launch window is from 7:06 a.m. ET to 11:06 a.m. ET, as the liftoff time happened at 7:56 a.m. ET.

The 45th Weather Squadron gave a 70% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule.

Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

Going up

This is the 14th mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1083. It has a very impressive resume, with two crewed missions and a lunar mission:

1. Crew-8 launch
2. Polaris Dawn mission
3. Starlink 6-48 mission
4. Starlink 6-56 mission
5. CRS-31
6. Starlink 6-65 mission
7. Astranis
8. Starlink 13-1 mission
9. IM-2 mission
10. Starlink 12-17 mission
11. Starlink 6-91 mission
12. Starlink 12-24 mission
13. Dror 1

After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas that is in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

The 28 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will head 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.

Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been documenting Starlink satellites.

Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

• 8,316are in orbit
• 7,551are in operational orbit