SpaceX launches 23 more Starlink satellites from California

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 12:09 a.m. EDT (0409 GMT or 9:09 p.m. PDT March 10 local time), Space reported.

It was the second Starlink mission in a little over four hours; the company earlier launched 23 of the broadband craft from Florida’s Space Coast.

Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband megaconstellation, which beams internet service to people around the world.

There are nearly 5,500 operational Starlink craft in LEO, but that number will continue to go up for the foreseeable future. SpaceX already has permission to deploy 12,000 Starlink satellites, and it has applied for approval for about 30,000 more on top of that.

AMK/PR