SpaceX launches its 470th Falcon 9 rocket, Carrying 28 Starlink Satellites

SpaceX launches its 470th Falcon 9 rocket, Carrying 28 Starlink Satellites

On Tuesday evening, SpaceX launched its most recent set of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit.

With the Starlink 6-93 mission, the corporation launched its 470th Falcon 9 rocket to date, adding 28 more satellites to its current constellation of over 7,300 in orbit. At 9:17 p.m. EDT (0117 UTC), the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) lifted off.

On Monday, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 85 percent chance for favorable weather during the four-hour launch window. Concerns revolved around the potential impacts from anvil and cumulus clouds, but they weren’t impactful enough to stymie liftoff.

SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number 1085, which made its seventh trip to space and back. It previously launched NASA’s Crew-9, Fram2, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 and GPS 3 Space Vehicle 07.

B1085 landed aboard the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” (JRTI) just over eight minutes after takeoff. The landing was the 442nd booster landing to date and the 119th for JRTI.