SpaceX launches two Starlink satellite groups 19 hours apart

SpaceX began and ended the day with Starlink launches.

The company sent two Falcon 9 rockets soaring, first from Florida before sunrise on Tuesday (April 14), and then from California after sunset the same day (by local time zone). Both launches were successful, according to SpaceX.

First up, were 29 of the broadband internet relay units (Starlink group 10-24) at 5:23 a.m. EDT (0923 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Then, about 19 hours later at 9:29 p.m. PDT (12:29 a.m. EDT or 0429 GMT on April 15), 25 more Starlink satellites (group 17-27) lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in southern California.

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About an hour after each launch, the Falcon 9 upper stage deployed its cargo, sending the satellites on track to join the SpaceX low Earth orbit megaconstellation.

Both missions’ Falcon 9 rocket first stages made it back to Earth to be reissued. Booster B1080 completed its 26th flight by landing on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” based in the Atlantic Ocean. Then Booster 1082 touched down on “Of Course I Still Love You” stationed in the Pacific Ocean, raising its reuse tally to 21 flights.

After the doubleheader, SpaceX’s Starlink network totaled more than 10,200 satellites, according to tracker Jonathan McDowell. The Vandeberg launch was SpaceX’s 46th of the year out of 629 Falcon 9 missions 2010.