Updated
Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jul 9
SpaceX Deploys 24 Starlink Satellites, Landing Falcon 9 Booster for 636th Time
Updated
Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jul 9

SpaceX Deploys 24 Starlink Satellites, Landing Falcon 9 Booster for 636th Time

3 articles · Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jul 9

Summary

  • 24 Starlink satellites were deployed after a Friday night Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base, adding to SpaceX’s low-Earth-orbit broadband network.
  • 8:01 p.m. PDT liftoff sent the mission on a south-southwesterly path, using booster B1071 on its 35th flight—one of the company’s most-reused first stages.
  • More than eight minutes later, B1071 landed on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific, marking the vessel’s 209th recovery and SpaceX’s 636th booster landing.
  • The mission expands a Starlink constellation that now includes more than 10,700 spacecraft, underscoring SpaceX’s continued push to scale global internet coverage.

Insights

As Starlink adds thousands more satellites, are we trading global internet for irreversible damage to our atmosphere and view of the cosmos?
With China now mastering rocket reusability, is SpaceX’s dominance in the new space race coming to an end?
Starlink is valued at $1.75 trillion, but can it survive new rivals without its next-generation Starship rocket?