Today, SpaceX launched 50 Starlink broadband satellites and successfully landed the rocket on a ship at sea (Feb. 25). At 12:12 p.m. EST today, a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket carrying 50 Starlink broadband spacecraft launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California (1712 GMT; 9:12 a.m. local California time). The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth a little less than nine minutes later, landing vertically on Of Course I Still Love You, a SpaceX droneship stationed several hundred miles off the California coast. Meanwhile, the second stage continued to carry the 50 satellites into orbit. SpaceX reported today through Twitter that the spacecraft deployed as expected roughly an hour after liftoff. For this specific booster, it was the fourth launch and landing. According to SpaceX, the first stage also assisted in the launch of NASA and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites’ Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Earth-observation satellite in November 2020, as well as 60 Starlink satellites in May 2021 and NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft in November 2021. For SpaceX and its founder and CEO, Elon Musk, such reuse is a top objective. Musk wants to help humanity populate Mars, and he believes that fully and quickly reusable rockets are the key to making that happen. After a 49-satellite launch on Feb. 3 and a 46-satellite liftoff on Monday, today’s launch marked SpaceX’s third Starlink mission of February (Feb. 21). The Falcon 9 first stage landed for the 100th time during an orbital flight on Feb. 21.
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