BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — After the Crew 3 mission wrapped up early Friday, SpaceX iaunched another Starlink mission just hours later.
SpaceX successfully launched another Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 5:42 a.m. ET. The rocket lit up the dark skies and produced a jellyfish effect, when the sun's rays are in just the right spot to illuminate the plume and exhaust left by the launch.
What You Need To Know
- SpaceX sends 53 more satellites into low-Earth orbit
- The launch Friday came just hours after the Crew 3 Dragon returned
- Friday's launch lifted off at 5:42 a.m. ET from Launch Complex 39A
- The Crew-3 Dragon Endurance splashed down at 12:43 a.m.
The Falcon 9 in the Starlink mission carried 53 Starlink satellites toward low-Earth orbit.
The Starlinks will join the network being created that makes possible video calls, online gaming, streaming and other high data-rate activities previously not available using satellite internet for rural areas and other locations where internet coverage is spotty or unavailable.
The first-stage booster for Friday’s SpaceX launch has lifted off multiple times, carrying Crew Demo-2, ANASIS II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and now seven Starlink missions into space.
Minutes after the launch, the stages separated, and the booster rocket landed on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean so it can be used again on a future launch.
Rewatch Launch
DRAGON CAPSULE ENDURANCE RETURNS
The Dragon Endurance and Crew-3 astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Matthias Maurer re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico at 12:43 a.m. ET Friday.
The Dragon capsule left Earth on Nov. 10 aboard a Falcon rocket, and the astronauts had been in orbit for 177 days.