SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida on Wednesday evening (May 22), the company's second mission in less than 24 hours.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:35 p.m. EDT (0235 GMT on May 23).
Related: Starlink Space Train: How to See and Track It in the Night Sky
The Falcon 9 rocket's first stage returned to Earth about 8 minutes after launch, landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
This was the eighth launch and landing of this particular first stage, according to A SpaceX mission description. Among the previous seven launches were three Starlink missions and the private astronaut missions Ax-2 and Ax-3 to the International Space Station.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 rocket's upper stage carried the 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), where they were scheduled to deploy about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Wednesday night's liftoff was the second of the day for SpaceX. In the morning, the company launched the NROL-146 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, sending a constellation of satellites aloft for the US National Reconnaissance Office.
This was SpaceX's 52nd orbital launch of the year already. Thirty-six of these missions are dedicated to building the massive and ever-growing Starlink constellation, which currently consists of… About 5,950 operational satellites.
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