SpaceX sent another 23 V2 mini Starlinks to orbit early on the morning of April 5, 2024 from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket launched just before dawn, causing residents across the Space Coast to wake up to the sound of its roar. The mission, named Group 6-47, was launched to the South East and the satellites were inserted into the same 43-degree orbital inclination. The deployment of the Starlink satellites occurred just over an hour after lift-off, bringing the total number of Starlinks in orbit to 5,744.
The Falcon 9 rocket completing this mission was Booster 1069, flying its 14th mission. It has successfully sent 399 satellites and 1 Cargo Dragon to orbit over its lifetime. The booster landed on the droneship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ just eight and a half minutes after liftoff. SpaceX is planning to bring the booster back to Port Canaveral and likely have the droneship back to sea for its next recovery within ~12 hours.
SpaceX’s next mission is set to launch later the same evening from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. SpaceX is coming off an incredible first quarter of 2024, with 31 successful launches, including the third Starship test flight. The company is looking to further increase its cadence as it launches more missions in Q2 and refines its turnaround time between launches. This mission could be one of the last Group 6 missions, as SpaceX plans to start launching Group 7 missions from Florida.
Additionally, the company continues testing data connections from cell phones directly to satellites, with 6 satellites from the next batch featuring Direct Cell capabilities.