As 2024 nears its end, SpaceX marked a milestone with one of the final rocket launches of the year. On Saturday, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 satellites lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The launch took place at 8:48 pm from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E), marking SpaceX's 132nd Falcon launch of 2024.
The satellites on board were heading toward low Earth orbit, with an expected arrival over an hour after launch. This mission is part of SpaceX’s ongoing efforts to expand satellite constellations for various purposes, including communications and internet services.
There are two remaining Falcon 9 launches for the year: one carrying commercial communication satellites and another batch of Starlink satellites.
Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s Vice President of Launch, expressed optimism, stating, "We’re now targeting 134 launches — two shy of our last goal — to finish 2024 strong. Here’s to an awesome last couple of days in 2024 and an even better 2025!"
The Falcon 9’s first stage successfully returned to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, landing on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean. This marked the 16th landing for this booster, with 12 of those flights supporting Starlink missions.
As of now, SpaceX’s Starlink constellation consists of around 6,700 active satellites, the largest satellite constellation ever assembled.
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