This week’s second set of Starlink satellites arrived in space Friday morning joining two dozen others also launched from the West Coast.
The Falcon 9 rocket, built by SpaceX, blasted off from Space Launch Complex-4 at Vandenberg Space Force Base shortly after 10 a.m. Friday.
The 24 satellites separated from the rocket approximately an hour after liftoff.
Additionally, the first-stage booster successfully landed on the droneshiop positioned in the Pacific Ocean after finishing its 17th flight.
This was the second Starlink Falcon rocket launch of the week from Vandenberg.
SpaceX’s team at Vandenberg now will prep for another mission scheduled to deliver an Earth-observation mission for the government of Luxembourg.
NAOS, a very high-resolution optical satellite system developed by OHB Italia S.p.A, could launch as soon Tuesday with the 27-minute launch window opening at 11:53 a.m.
The first-stage booster will fly its 27th mission before returning to land at Vandenberg, just west of the launch site.
In addition to NAOS, a number of smaller payloads will hitch a ride induing Dhruva Space’s LEAP-1; Planet’s Pelican-3 and Pelican-4; and four payloads manifested by Exolaunch: Capella’s Acadia-6 and Pixxel’s FFLY-1, FFLY-2, and FFLY-3.