SpaceX launches 52 Starlink satellites, lands rocket at sea VIDEO
SpaceX has launched another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit and landed a rocket on a ship at sea.
A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with 52 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 02:14 GMT on August 10, according to Space.com.
A little less than nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
The Falcon 9 upper stage, meanwhile, continued powering its way to low Earth orbit, eventually deploying the Starlink satellites as planned about 15 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX confirmed via Twitter.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/j5xpFbHplK
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 10, 2022