An early-evening Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base Saturday added another 27 satellites to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.
The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 6:47 p.m. PDT (9:47 p.m. EDT / 0147 UTC), the opening of a four-hour launch window. The rocket hugged the Californian coast line and would have been visible to millions as it soared on southeasterly trajectory upon leaving the pad. It was the 81st Starlink mission of the year.
The Falcon 9 booster, B1093, made its 17th flight to space and back after previously launching two missions for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA), Transporter-16, and 13 batches of Starlink satellites.
About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1093 landed on the droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, positioned in the Pacific Ocean. This was the 225th landing on this vessel and the 662nd Falcon booster landing to date.
The 27 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites onboard the Starlink 15-27 mission were deployed a little more than an hour after liftoff.
