SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink internet satellites early this morning (January 21), five days after a test flight of its giant Starship rocket ended in an explosion.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:24 a.m. (5:24 p.m. Japan time) on Tuesday.
Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, as scheduled, and touched down in the Atlantic Ocean aboard SpaceX’s drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas.
According to SpaceX’s mission description, this is the booster’s eighth launch and landing. Four of those flights were Starlink missions.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 upper stage will carry 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, where it will be deployed about 65 minutes after liftoff.
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This morning’s launch was the ninth Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and SpaceX’s 10th launch this year overall. The other mission, the seventh ever test flight of SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket, took place from South Texas on Thursday (January 16).
The flight was a mixed bag for the company. Starship’s massive first stage super heavy booster returned to the launch site for a dramatic catch by the tower’s “chopstick” arm, but the upper stage exploded just eight and a half minutes after liftoff. Apparently there was a propellant leak.
