On October 9, SpaceX successfully launched 21 Starlink V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The launch took place from the SLC-4E spaceport at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and was the company’s 71st mission this year, bringing the company closer to its goal of 100 launches by 2023. SpaceX has been gradually increasing its launch pace, and Musk recently announced plans to launch 10 missions on the moon by the end of the year.

First stage B1063-14 demonstrated its record 14th successful flight. It has previously played a key role in missions such as the launch of NASA’s Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite, the launch of NASA’s DART mission to asteroid Dimorphos, and the launch of 51 research minisatellites as part of the Transporter 7 mission. The launch of Iridium OneWeb satellites and SDA-0B for the US Development Agency (SDA) and now the launch of nine Starlink missions.

Approximately 8 minutes after launch, the stage landed on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ barge in the Pacific Ocean. The first stages of the Falcon 9 rocket landed 232 times, while spent stages were recovered and reused 204 times.

21 Starlink V2 mini satellites launched within the scope of this mission will operate in an orbit at an altitude of approximately 530 kilometers at an angle of 53° to the Earth’s equator. These satellites were designed to offer four times the bandwidth of their predecessors, further strengthening SpaceX’s position in the ISP market.

The launch was the 25th launch for V2 minisatellites as part of the Starlink group. To date, SpaceX has launched a total of 5,243 Starlink satellites into orbit since 2019, with approximately 4,884 of them still operational.

The rapid expansion of Starlink’s satellite broadband network has allowed the company to serve more than 2 million customers in more than 60 countries, providing high-speed Internet access in previously inaccessible areas.