Falcon 9 from SpaceX has never carried such a heavy load into orbit. 56 new Starlinks in the sky

Today at 10:22 Polish time, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket took off from the Space Force Station located at Cape Canaveral to carry out the mission codenamed Starlink Group 5-2 – it was aimed at bringing 56 new Starlinks into low Earth orbit, whose total weight was 17,400 kg. This is the heaviest payload that the 70-meter-tall Falcon 9 has ever launched into orbit.

The flight of the rocket lasted about 8 minutes and 40 seconds, until the first stage returned to Earth. 55 minutes after launch, Space X confirmed that the Starlink satellites were successfully deployed into orbit. This is what the show looked like:

After the success of the SG 5-2 mission, the company Elon Musk it already has 3773 Starlinks in orbit. SpaceX has received approval to deploy over 12,000 spacecraft. more, with long-term plans assuming that the fleet of satellites may grow to as many as 42,000 in the coming years. devices.

Interestingly, the Starlinks launched today will not be visible from the territory of our country – this is determined by their orbit with an inclination of 43 degrees.