SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 60 Starlink Satellites into Space, But Misses Landing Attempt
After a delay yesterday, SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 booster on Monday evening, sending 60 more Starlink satellites to space, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral, Florida
While the first stage was nominal, the landing attempt by Falcon 9 (B1059) missed the mark, and did not successfully land aboard autonomous drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean, located just over 600 km northeast of Cape Canaveral. This was the sixth flight for this particular booster.
SpaceX had 24 consecutive booster landings before today’s landing attempt! B1059 had 5 successful flights! 🚀
(Credit: SpaceX) pic.twitter.com/sJTXbzowcu— Everything SpaceX (@spacex360) February 16, 2021
Maybe #SpaceX #Falcon9 couldn't land to avoid birds… pic.twitter.com/lJw1dIeyvL
— KJ (@2009KJ) February 16, 2021
Based on the landing camera, you could see some light next to the drone ship, but Falcon 9 did not make the landing and seemingly spared the life of three seagulls aboard the landing deck.
Starlink satellites are still making their way to be deployed, as of writing. You can check it out below:
20th batch of starlink are up🛰
beautiful view tonight from cocoa beach. the color fade as falcon 9 approaches meco is truly jaw-dropping to witness in person…
📸 for @arstechnica⚙️/⬇️/🖼: https://t.co/35yukn7EOM pic.twitter.com/gMMCk0L1jh
— 📸Trevor Mahlmann🚀 (@TrevorMahlmann) February 16, 2021
Update: 60 Starlink satellites deployed, taking the total to 1,145 satellites.
Deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed pic.twitter.com/apZ7oTOvNk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 16, 2021
SpaceX will be launching another batch of Starlink satellites on Tuesday, February 16, at 9:55pm PT/12:55am ET on Wednesday, February 17.