Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

Watch SpaceX nail the key stages of its latest Starlink launch

By

SpaceX sent another rocket up on Wednesday evening, the night sky lighting up as the Falcon 9 departed Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Recommended Videos

The June 3 launch was the latest one for SpaceX’s ambitious Starlink project aimed at providing broadband services for customers globally, and came just three days after its first astronaut launch using its Crew Dragon capsule.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Fifteen minutes after the Falcon 9 rocket left the pad, SpaceX deployed 60 more of its internet satellites into low Earth orbit. The arrival of the new batch means it now has a total of 480 satellites in operation as it continues preparations for a private beta of the broadband service in the months ahead.

Related

For Wednesday’s outing, SpaceX tweeted video clips (below) showing each of the mission’s key stages, including the Falcon 9 rocket launch, the first-stage booster landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic, and of course the all-important satellite deployment.

We’re still waiting for news on whether SpaceX managed to catch the Falcon 9’s fairing, or nose cone, which comes down in two parts soon after lift-off. It uses ships with huge nets to catch the pieces, but the procedure has been proving tricky.

Here’s the Falcon 9 heading to space …

Next up, the moment the first-stage booster returned to Earth, making a perfect landing on the drone ship. SpaceX noted that the reusable Falcon 9 booster is the first one to achieve five landings.

A short while later, the 60 Starlink satellites deployed in a tightly packed configuration. Over the days ahead they’ll spread out in orbit. One of them is being used to test a special visor designed to eliminate the sun’s reflection. The issue that has been troubling astronomers as the glare could affect their exploration of deep space.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Trevor Mogg
Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX video shows awesome power of Starship rocket in new fire test
SpaceX tests its Super Heavy booster ahead of the Starship's seventh flight test.

SpaceX has performed a static fire test of the mighty Super Heavy booster ahead of the seventh test flight of the Starship rocket. Secured firmly to the ground, the rocket’s 33 Raptor engines fired for about 18 seconds before coming to a halt.

The Super Heavy booster, which forms the first stage of the Starship rocket, generates an incredible 17 million pounds of thrust at launch, making it the most powerful rocket ever to fly.

Read more
SpaceX’s Starship megarocket is getting ready to fly again
SpaceX's Super Heavy booster on the launchpad ahead of the Starship's seventh test flight.

Eager to ramp up the frequency of test flights for its next-generation Starship rocket, SpaceX has moved the first-stage Super Heavy booster to the launchpad for preflight testing ahead of its seventh liftoff.

SpaceX shared an image of the 70-meter-tall Super Heavy booster standing on the launchpad. When the Starship spacecraft is stacked on top for the upcoming test, the vehicle reaches an astonishing height of 120 meters.

Read more
A SpaceX droneship just hit a milestone for rocket landings
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landing on the Just Read The Instructions droneship.

We hear a lot about SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets launching and landing multiple times, but what about the infrastructure that makes it possible?

A key part of the Falcon 9 missions involve droneships stationed in the ocean. These floating barges function as a landing platform for the returning first-stage Falcon 9 boosters when the mission profile means the rocket will have to land at sea rather than back at the launch site.

Read more