The Falcon 9 successfully launched 15 V2 mini Starlink satellites last night from the foggy Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These satellites, part of the Group 6-20 portion of the Starlink constellation, were deployed into a 43-degree orbital inclination.


While the first stage of the Falcon 9 made its way back through the atmosphere, the second stage performed a dog-leg maneuver over the Baja Peninsula, Mexico. This launch demonstrated that SpaceX is capable of launching 15 mini Starlinks at a time from California, while still being able to recover the first stage.


With the addition of these 15 satellites, the total number of Starlink satellites launched now stands at 4,918. These satellites will undergo checkouts before reaching their operational orbits. One advantage of the low Earth orbit is that if any issues are found, the satellites can be safely deorbited to prevent space junk.


Booster 1075, the first stage used for this mission, successfully completed its 5th mission, including four Starlink missions. It landed on the droneship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ approximately nine and a half minutes after lift-off.


The fairings used for this mission were flown for the 6th time and will be recovered by SpaceX’s West Coast fairing recovery ship, Go Beyond.


This launch marked the 54th mission of the year for SpaceX and the 215th overall landing of an orbital class rocket between the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.


Next on SpaceX’s agenda is another Starlink launch, which will see a Falcon 9 launch up to 22 V2 mini Starlinks from Florida in the coming days.