More Space Junk to Cloud the Night Sky

SpaceX delivered a new batch of its Starlink satellites into orbit today (Sept. 3) and nailed a rocket landing, following a few delays.

A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket carrying a full load of 60 Starlink satellites lifted off at 8:46 a.m. EDT (1246 GMT) from Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The booster's first stage came back to Earth about 9 minutes after launch, landing on one of SpaceX's drone ships in the Atlantic Ocean.

This was the third attempt to get this particular mission off the ground, following weather and data-review delays. The launch marks the first Starlink mission this month and SpaceX's 16th mission so far in 2020. The company’s fleet of flight-proven boosters has been busy this summer, with the California-based rocket builder reaching a new milestone on its previous Starlink flight: launching and landing the same first-stage booster six times.