Today, SpaceX successfully launched another batch of Starlink satellites into space. SpaceX launches 56 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket at 11:35 ET (15:35 GMT). Falcon 9 lifts from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. and the first stage descended eight minutes later, making its eighth successful landing on a nearby drone ship called Just Read The Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean. Then the rocket’s second stage reached nominal orbit after nine minutes of flight.

The mission is SpaceX’s 43rd launch of the year and 242 successful Falcon 9 flights to date, according to today’s launch announcement by SpaceX propulsion engineer Atticus Vadera.

This is the fourth Starlink mission for this particular launch vehicle, which supports numerous other missions, including a resupply mission to the International Space Station known as the CRS-24, and multiple commercial satellite launches.

According to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, SpaceX has already sent more than 4,500 Starlink satellites into space, of which about 4,200 are operational. But SpaceX wants to continue developing the mega-constellation. The company received approval to send 12,000 broadband satellites into space and applied for 30,000 more approvals.