Second Falcon 9 of the night carries Starlink satellites from West Coast

A Falcon 9 liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California carrying 22 Starlink satellites. Image: SpaceX.

SpaceX launched its second Falcon 9 launch of the night with the Starlink 7-12 mission soaring skyward from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) on Sunday, Jan. 28, at 9:57 p.m. PST (12:57 a.m. EST, 0557 UTC).

It follows the Starlink 6-38 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center less than five hours earlier. The West Coast launch was adding another 22 Starlink satellites to a constellation with more than 5,300 satellites on orbit.

The Falcon 9 booster making this launch, tail number B1075, was on its ninth flight, all of which have launched from SLC-4E. It previously launched the Space Development Agency (SDA) 0A mission, the SARah 2 & 3 satellites and six prior Starlink missions.

About 8.25 minutes after launch, B1075 landed on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ This was the 81st landing on this droneship and the 268th overall Falcon 9 booster landing.

Here are the most current stats:

9th launch & landing of B1075 64th SpaceX launch from SLC-4E 132nd orbital launch from SLC-4E 294th Falcon 9 launch 81st landing on OCISLY 268th Falcon 9 booster landing 4th orbital launch from California in 2024 9th SpaceX launch in 2024 20th orbital launch in 2024