After a seemingly rare five-day break for Thanksgiving, SpaceX jumped right back into it with a launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Launching at 11:20 pm ET (04:20 UTC), the Falcon 9 launched to the Southeast and inserted right into a 43-degree orbital inclination. That is Group 6-30, and over the following couple of months, the satellites will undergo checkouts and lift their orbits as they develop into fully operational.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/HTFsESYl6B
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 28, 2023
The 23 Starlink satellites were deployed just over an hour after launch. These 23 satellites are the V2 mini variant that uses argon Hall thrusters for higher maneuvering in orbit and the power to handle 4 times more bandwidth than the previous V1.5 Starlink.
Previously SpaceX was only launching 22 at a time from Florida, but recently they’ve been capable of add yet another as they fine-tune the performance of the Falcon 9. The V2 mini Starlink variant weighs in at 800 kg ( 1,800 lbs), whereas the V1.5 satellites weigh just ~306 kg (675 lbs).
This was the 87th orbital mission and the 83rd of the 12 months for the Falcon 9. SpaceX could still hit 100 launches this 12 months so long as no unexpected delays occur, but it should be very close.
This was the seventeenth flight for this Falcon 9, Booster 1062, which had previously launched 9 Starlink missions, 8 astronauts on the Inspiration 4 and Axiom 1 missions, 2 communications satellites, 2 GPS III satellites, and the OneWeb web satellite constellation that carried 40 satellites to orbit.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship pic.twitter.com/MPTdwUzOIr
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 28, 2023
B1062 successfully landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions just over eight and half minutes after liftoff, and fairing recovery vessel Bob will try to retrieve the fairing halves a bit further downrange before returning to Port Canaveral and eventual refurbishment.
Next up for SpaceX might be a Falcon 9 launch from California no sooner than December 1st with a reconnaissance satellite for South Korea. This launch will feature a return to the landing site following its mid-morning launch.