SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on February 8. The rocket’s first stage landed back on Earth eight minutes after liftoff, marking the 17th launch and landing for this particular booster. This was the company’s 18th launch of 2025, with 11 of them being Starlink flights.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage deployed the Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, where they will operate as part of SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation. The company has been actively expanding its Starlink network, and this latest launch brings their total number of launched spacecraft to over 100.
This launch comes after a successful test flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket on January 16, which showed promise for the vehicle’s development. However, the upper stage experienced a propellant leak and exploded about eight minutes after launch.
With this latest launch, SpaceX continues its mission to provide fast and reliable internet connectivity to remote areas around the world. The company aims to deploy its Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit, where they can provide high-speed internet services to users with latency as low as 20 milliseconds.
Source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-starlink-satellite-launch-group-12-9