18 October SpaceX Starlink has sent another batch of Internet satellites into orbit. Rocket hawk 9equipped with 20 ships starlinkAll 13, including those capable of direct communication, were launched today at 7:31 PM ET (23:31 GMT) from the Florida Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral.

first degree hawk 9 It returned to Earth about 8.5 minutes after launch as planned and landed aboard SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. According to SpaceX’s mission statement, this was the 17th launch and landing of that launch vehicle.

Meanwhile, senior hawk 9 Starlink continued to launch satellites into low Earth orbit. If all goes as planned, it will deploy them there approximately 64 minutes after launch. The new group will join the vast and ever-growing Starlink megaconstellation, which currently consists of more than 6,400 active spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. Approximately 230 of these satellites are direct communications devices.

in 2024 SpaceX Launched 96 missions hawk 9Two-thirds of these were devoted to the development of the Starlink network. The company also launched two Falcon Heavy missions and three test flights of its Starship megarocket this year.