SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites on 450th Falcon rocket (video) – Space.com
Liftoff occurred at 10:19 a.m. ET on Friday (Feb. 21).
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.
SpaceX launched a stack of 23 Starlink satellites from Florida this morning, Feb. 21, adding to the company’s growing space-based internet fleet.The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink batch lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Friday, at 10:19 p.m. EST (1519 GMT), against the sunny, blue sky of Florida’s Space Coast.About eight minutes into flight, following stage separation and deceleration burns, the Falcon 9 booster returned to Earth, downrange in the Atlantic Ocean. The booster, B1076, touched down on SpaceX’s A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship.The successful landing wraps up the 21st flight for B1076, according to a SpaceX, and its twelfth Starlink mission.Falcon 9’s upper stage continued its flight, carrying the 23 satellites into low-Earth orbit. SpaceX’s Starlink constellation currently totals around 7,000 satellites spanning across the globe to provide low-latency, high-speed internet to SpaceX’s customers.— SpaceX: Facts about Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company— Starlink satellites: Facts, tracking and impact on astronomy— SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 21 Starlink satellites on record-setting 26th flight (video, photos)This launch was SpaceX’s 23rd of 2025, including on Starship launch from the company’s Starbase, Texas, launch site. Today’s mission also marks the 16th Starlink launch for SpaceX so far this year.At least four more Starlink launches are scheduled to launch before the end of February, as well as Starship’s eighth test flight, currently expected no earlier than Feb. 26.Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.Josh Dinner is Space.com’s Content Manager. He is a writer and photographer with a passion for science and space exploration, and has been working the space beat since 2016. Josh has covered the evolution of NASA’s commercial spaceflight partnerships, from early Dragon and Cygnus cargo missions to the ongoing development and launches of crewed missions from the Space Coast, as well as NASA science missions and more. He also enjoys building 1:144 scale models of rockets and human-flown spacecraft. Find some of Josh’s launch photography on Instagram and his website, and follow him on Twitter, where he mostly posts in haiku.US Space Force reveals 1st look at secretive X-37B space plane in orbit (photo)NASA Associate Administrator Jim Free announces retirement after 30-year career at the space agencyBoost for alien hunters? Earth life may not be so improbable, study suggests
Space is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
©
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street,
New York,
NY 10036.
