Elon Musk's SpaceX successfully launches 20 Starlink satellites

SpaceX on Friday successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida, carrying 20 Starlink satellites. The payload includes 13 satellites equipped with Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff occurred at 7:31 pm ET from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The space organization confirmed the launch in a post on X, stating, "Deployment of 20 Starlink satellites confirmed."

Watch: Falcon 9 launch

The Falcon 9's first stage booster successfully returned to Earth approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff as planned, landing on the SpaceX drone ship 'Just Read the Instructions' in the Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile the upper stage continued its mission to transport the Starlink Satellites to the low Earth orbit. Their deployment is expected about 64 minutes after liftoff, provided everything proceeds as planned.

This mission marked the 17th launch and landing of the Falcon 9's first-stage booster, which had previously supported several important missions. These missions include mPOWER-C, OneWeb 2, Intelsat 40e, Digital Globe 2, Turksat-6A, Eutelsat 36X, Ovzon-3, CRS-26, and eight other Starlink missions.

What is 'Just Read the Instructions'?

Just Read the Instructions (JRTI) is a SpaceX autonomous spaceport droneship (ASDS) stationed at Port Canaveral, Florida. Built on the modified barge Marmac 303, JRTI features a large landing platform, station-keeping thrusters, and specialized equipment, allowing Falcon boosters to land at sea during high-velocity missions where a return-to-launch-site isn’t possible.

Initially based in California from 2015 to 2019 for Pacific Ocean missions, JRTI moved to Florida in 2019 to support the growing number of launches from Cape Canaveral. It is the second SpaceX droneship to bear the name, originally inspired by Iain M. Banks’ Culture series.