SpaceX launched the Starlink internet satellite into orbit 51 on Friday, February 17, the first of the company’s two orbital missions planned for the day. The Starlink spacecraft was traveling atop a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 2:12 p.m. ET (1912 GMT; 11:12 a.m. California time).

The first stage of the rocket returned to Earth and landed approximately 8 minutes and 40 seconds after launch on SpaceX’s unmanned spacecraft Of Course I Still Love You, parked in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. According to SpaceX’s mission statement, this was the ninth launch and landing for this particular rocket. Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 upper stage continued to carry Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit and deployed 51 of them as scheduled 15.5 minutes after takeoff, as SpaceX confirmed on Twitter.

Newcomers have too many companies out there. So far, SpaceX has launched nearly 4,000 Starlink satellites (opens in new tab) that provide Internet services to people around the world. And the mega-constellation will continue to grow in the near future: SpaceX has permission to host 12,000 Starlink spacecraft and has applied for permission to deploy 30,000 more satellites.

Friday’s Starlink launch was SpaceX’s 11th orbital mission this year. And if all goes according to plan 12 will happen in just a few hours: Falcon 9 is scheduled to take off from the Space Force Station at Cape Canaveral at 22:59 ET (February 18, 03:59 GMT) on Friday. Inmarsat satellite. The I-6 F2 communications satellite has entered orbit.

But that roughly nine-hour gap between launches won’t break a SpaceX record; On October 5, 2022, Elon Musk’s company launched the Crew-5 astronaut mission for NASA and the Starlink party at seven-hour intervals.