SpaceX launches 51 Starlink satellites and a space tug to orbit

SpaceX sent a space tug aloft along with another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites on Sunday night (Sept. 4) and landed a rocket on a ship at sea as well. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on the east coast of Florida, carrying 51 Starlink internet satellites to orbit.

Also on board with Starlink Group 4-20 was Sherpa-LTC2, a space tug provided by Seattle-based company Spaceflight. The tug is carrying a payload for Boeing's Varuna Technology Demonstration Mission (Varuna-TDM), which "aims to test V-band communications for a proposed constellation of 147 non-geostationary broadband satellites.The first Sherpa-LTC orbital transfer vehicle was removed from a January 2022 SpaceX launch opportunity due to a propellant leak.

Sunday's flight plan called for SpaceX to bring the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a soft touchdown on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The landing on the seventh for this particular booster occurred as planned, about 8.5 minutes after launch.

Sherpa-LTC2 deployed from the Falcon 9's upper stage about 49 minutes after liftoff, and the Starlinks followed suit 23 minutes after that, SpaceX confirmed via Twitter.

SpaceX has already sent more than 3,000 Starlink satellites into orbit, in an effort to create a huge constellation for broadband service targeted at remote areas. SpaceX has launched more than 25 Starlink-centric missions in 2022 already.

Sunday's launch was SpaceX's 40th of the year and continued to add to the Starlink mega constellation. SpaceX has the approval to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites and has asked an international regulator to give the thumbs-up to an additional 30,000. In late August, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk announced plans to beam connectivity directly to smartphones using Starlink, in conjunction with T-Mobile. Another deal announced Tuesday (Aug. 30) will see Starlink service beamed to Royal Caribbean cruise ships.