SpaceX successfully launched its 43rd Starlink mission aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday at 1:51 p.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/mSA8WD2TTo
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 21, 2022
Starlink is a high-speed broadband service from SpaceX powered by a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Starlink is designed to provide affordable, low-latency internet at viable speeds anywhere and everywhere across the globe. As of February, the service has surpassed 250,000 user terminals worldwide.
The mission carried 53 Starlink satellites into orbit. This was the 12th launch for Booster B1060, the Falcon 9 first stage that supported the mission. The same booster previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, and Transporter-2, in addition to eight (now nine) Starlink missions.
Booster B1060 successfully landed on SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions droneship around 8 minutes after liftoff at 1:59 p.m. ET.
Starlink satellites deployed into initial parking orbit pic.twitter.com/73sOZkUJaJ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2022
A little over an hour after the launch, the 53 Starlink satellites were deployed into their initial parking orbit.
Watch SpaceX’s full webcast of Thursday’s Starlink mission below:
SpaceX recently expanded Starlink coverage to the Caribbean, bringing the service’s availability up to a total of 33 markets. Last month, SpaceX added a Starlink availability map to its website.
