The launch took place on June 7
The first stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lands on an unmanned marine platform after launching 22 Starlink satellites. According to SpaceX, this was the 300th landing of the Falcon 9.
The company reached the milestone Friday evening (June 7) during the launch of Starlink satellites from Cape Cod Space Force Station Canaveral, Fla. After 8.5 minutes, the Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth as planned, landing vertically on SpaceX's unmanned A Shortfall of Gravitas spacecraft in the Atlantic Ocean.
«Falcon 9 lands for the 300th time,», SpaceX wrote in a statement. Elon Musk was more succinct, writing: «300».
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 8, 2024
This was the 16th launch and landing of this particular launch vehicle. Twelve of those flights were dedicated to Starlink missions. Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 upper stage continued to deliver 22 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them 52.5 minutes after liftoff.
This launch was already SpaceX's 59th orbital mission this year. 42 of those were dedicated to building the company's Starlink mega-constellation, which currently consists of more than 6,000 functional satellites.