SpaceX launched 22 Starlink mini-satellites into orbit – Kommersant

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched 22 mini-satellites into orbit to replenish the Starlink global Internet coverage network, according to the company’s posts on the social network X (ex-Twitter). SpaceX noted that the first reusable stage of Falcon 9 was used at launch for the 14th time, after separation it landed on the offshore drone platform Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.

From the company’s reports it follows that the rocket was launched from the SLC-4E site at the US Vandenberg base in California. The launch began at 16:34 local time (3:34 Moscow time). An hour later, the satellites were successfully launched into orbit.

“Over 14 flights, this launch vehicle delivered more than 134 metric tons into space, including 279 tons of Starlink satellites, which help provide Internet connectivity from virtually anywhere on Earth,” the company said in a statement.

SpaceX has launched more than 5.8 thousand such satellites into orbit, more than 5.4 thousand of which are in orbit in working condition. February 4 Falcon 9 brought out into orbit the Ovzon-3 communications satellite of the Swedish company Ovzon, which provides mobile satellite Internet access services. The device launched into orbit will provide Internet access to Ovzon customers on approximately a third of the earth’s surface. Ovzon’s clients include the US and UK ministries of defence, the UN, the Italian fire service and the Colombian government.