On July 28, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket and launched 22 Starlink Internet satellites into Earth orbit, Space reports.
The Falcon 9 was launched at 07:01 Kyiv time from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport in Florida.
Approximately 8.5 minutes after launch, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth and landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas unmanned spacecraft.
Meanwhile, the upper stage of the Falcon 9 continued to launch 22 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Approximately 65 minutes after launch, the satellites were placed in their orbit.
Starlink was originally scheduled to launch at 05:20 Kyiv time, but it was slightly delayed, possibly due to dangerous weather conditions.
In addition, this launch was to be part of a record-breaking double launch, when SpaceX planned to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral at 06:04 Kyiv time.
If the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets had taken off as planned, this interval between the two launches from the US East Coast would have been the shortest in history.
Currently, the record time between two launches, set back in 1966, is 97 minutes.
