With today's successful Starlink launch, the company is well on its way to reaching its goal of launching more rockets in 2022.
The Starlink 4-9 mission was the ninth of a planned 52 launches this year. It is an impressive launch cadence of about one per week, aligning with the dedication of Musk to rapid reusability.
The mission was flown by the Falcon 9 booster and landed in the Atlantic Ocean nine minutes after launch. Since its debut in June 2020, B1060 has completed 11 flights and is now tied for the most rocket reuses at the company.
The B1060 successfully carried to space 47 Starlink satellites that have now joined 2,000 others in the program, providing high-speed, low-latency internet across the globe, even in remote regions. Starlink is currently approved to expand its constellation to 12,000 satellites, though SpaceX has applied to launch a further 30,000.
Starlink 4-9 was the sixth launch of the year, but not all of the missions were successful. On February 3, a launch brought 49 Starlink satellites to space, but 38 of them failed to reach their intended destinations due to a storm. The issue is not a big deal.
The company said in a February 22 statement that they have the capacity to build up to 45 satellites per week.
The next Starlink launch is scheduled for March 8 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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