SpaceX completed its 606th mission: Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlink satellites into orbit
On Thursday, December 11, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket with 29 Starlink satellites from the SLC-40 site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch took place at 17:01 Eastern Time (22:01 GMT). It was the 300th orbital launch in the world since the beginning of 2025.
What is known
Approximately eight and a half minutes after launch, the satellites reached low Earth orbit. According to the mission plan, the Starlink 6-90 group was supposed to reach the target orbit an hour after launch.
The Starlink system already includes over 10,000 satellites, more than 9,100 of which provide internet access in remote regions of the world, as well as Wi-Fi support on airplanes and direct connection for mobile communication.
The first stage of the rocket (booster B1083) successfully returned to Earth, landing on the autonomous ocean platform "Just Read the Instructions" in the Atlantic Ocean. This was already the 16th flight of this booster. Previously, it was used in the Crew-8, Polaris Dawn, CRS-31 missions, and other Starlink launches.
This launch was the 161st for Falcon 9 in 2025 and the 606th mission overall for SpaceX.
Source: SpaceX
