SpaceX Completes the Starlink Mission, its 40th Falcon 9 Launch of the Year

Launched from the Cape, SpaceX’s 40th Falcon 9 mission of the year was accomplished. The constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites grew by 23 with the launch of the Starlink 6-52 mission.

Launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 occurred at 6:40 p.m. EDT (2240 UTC), beginning a nearly four-hour window. Before launch, the 45th Weather Squadron predicted a 90% chance of acceptable circumstances.

On this mission, the Falcon 9 first stage booster with tail number B1080 made its eighth flight. It launched the Euclid observatory for the European Space Agency and previously flew the Ax-2 and Ax-3 private astronaut missions for Axiom Space.

B1080 touched down a little over eight minutes after takeoff on the SpaceX droneship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.” This was the 299th landing of a Falcon rocket and the 66th landing on ASOG.

A little over an hour before takeoff, the 23 Starlink satellites were deployed.