SpaceX successfully launched another batch of its Starlink satellites early Sunday, August 4, continuing a busy period for the company. The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft, took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 3:24 a.m. EDT (0724 GMT; 12:24 a.m. local time).
Approximately eight minutes post-launch, the Falcon 9’s first stage made a successful return to Earth, landing on the SpaceX droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Pacific Ocean. This marked the sixth launch and landing for this specific booster, demonstrating the reusability of SpaceX’s rockets.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Delivers 23 Starlink Satellites, Achieves Successful Booster RecoveryThe rocket’s upper stage successfully deployed the 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit as planned, which SpaceX confirmed via the social media platform X. This launch was part of a series of rapid consecutive launches, being SpaceX’s fifth in just over a week.
This recent burst of activity followed a brief two-week hiatus due to a Falcon 9 failure on July 11. The failure was attributed to a leak of liquid oxygen in the rocket’s upper stage, caused by a crack in a pressure sensor line. However, SpaceX appears to have resolved the issue, as evidenced by the successful launches over the past eight days.