At 0921 GMT on 13 June, the delayed launch of a Falcon 9v1.2 Block 5 rocket carried 58 Starlink satellites as part of the SpaceX low Earth orbit communications satellite constellation. Also aboard the launch from the Cape Canaveral launch pad which hosted another Falcon 9 launch just ten days before, were three Planet-owned SkySat remote sensing satellites, Skysat 16, 17 and 18, which were flying as part of SpaceX’s commercial rideshare service. All the satellites use on-board propulsion to reach their final operational orbital apogee altitudes: circa 500 km for the Skysats, 551 km in the case of the Starlinks.
Slow exposure photograph of Falcon 9 carrying 58 Starlink and 3 SkySat satellites to orbit. Courtesy: SpaceX
The reusable first stage, which was on its third flight, managed to land itself successfully onto the drone barge called Of Course I Still Love You 630 km down range in the Atlantic Ocean.
