SpaceX launches 21 Starlink satellites to orbit, loses Falcon 9 booster after landing (video)
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SpaceX launched a batch of 21 Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast on Sunday night (March 2).
The Falcon 9 rocket flying the mission lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:24 p.m. ET (0224 GMT on March 3), carrying the Starlink 12-20 mission — which included 13 satellites with direct-to-cell capability — to low Earth orbit.
The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth a little more than eight minutes after liftoff. The booster, known by the designation B1086, touched down in the Atlantic Ocean on SpaceX's "Just Read the Instructions" droneship, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) off the coast of Florida. However, that booster was lost shortly after landing.
Booster 1086 missions:
GOES-U | Maxar 3 | 3 Starlink missions
"Following the successful landing, an off-nominal fire in the aft end of the rocket damaged one of the booster's landing legs, which resulted in it tipping over," SpaceX wrote in a mission description. "While disappointing to lose a rocket after a successful mission, the team will use the data to make Falcon even more reliable on ascent and landing."
This was the fifth and final launch for the B1086 booster, which flew three previous Starlink missions, as well as the GOES-U and Maxar 3 missions.
The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued its ascent to orbit, where it deployed the 21 Starlink satellites about 65 minutes after liftoff as planned.
The new batch of Starlinks adds to SpaceX's growing megaconstellation of space-based broadband satellites, designed to provide high-speed internet access across the globe.
This launch marked SpaceX's 26th Falcon 9 mission of 2025, of which 19 have been dedicated to the company's Starlink network. SpaceX currently has more than 7,000 operational Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit, according to a database created by astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who regularly tracks the Starlink constellation.
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