On Sunday, January 14, 2024, SpaceX launched two back-to-back Falcon 9 rockets into low-Earth orbit carrying a total of 45 Starlink satellites for deployment.
The first mission with 23 Starlink satellites launched at 8:52 p.m. ET via the Falcon 9 reusable rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida.
The first stage booster completed its 12th flight with this mission and previously supported important missions including SES-22, ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1, HIspasat Amazonas Nexus, CRS-27, and eight of the Starlink missions including the latest.
Following the first stage separation, the first stage landed back on a droneship at around 8:25 minutes of the liftoff. Furthermore, the deployment was confirmed at around 1 hour of the mission time.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship pic.twitter.com/zUlIJ15DrQ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 14, 2024
Second Mission:
On that the same day, SpaceX fired another Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:59 a.m. PT.
The booster used in this mission completed its 18th flight with and previously supported Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, Korea 425, and eight of the Starlink satellite missions.
The first stage landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship at around 8:15 minutes of the mission and the mission control confirmed satellite deployment at about 1:10 hours.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship pic.twitter.com/MCxQMLzBvl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2024
These missions have been postponed for about 3-4 times due to unfavorable weather conditions. However, the company finally sent these rockets into space.
With these two new missions, SpaceX has now completed 5 successful launches in 2024 and 300 SpaceX launches overall.
Falcon 9 Hypersonic during 23 Starlink satellite launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on January 14, 2024 (source – SpaceX)