SpaceX successfully launched its eighth flight for the year on Friday. Their rocket was loaded with 50 new internet satellites for the Starlink constellation network.
With that, many fans hope that this latest new addition can help boost their internet connectivity performance.
SpaceX Starlink Satellite: February Launch Schedule
According to Space, the latest SpaceX Starlink liftoff happened on Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:12 PM EST (5:12 PM GMT and 9:12 AM local California time).
The 50 Starlink internet satellites were loaded on the SpaceX two-stage Falcon 9 rocket. It is important to note that just nine minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 first stage came back to Earth via vertical touchdown on "Of Course I Still Love You." This is a SpaceX drone ship designed for rocket retrieval, which was stationed a few hundred miles away from the launch site.
The official SpaceX Twitter page posted the highlights for the launch.
Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/PRsWmp31ap
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 25, 2022
It is worth pointing out that the SpaceX Falcon 9 has a long history of successful launches. Space pointed out that this reusable rocket helped launch the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Earth-observation satellite for NASA, the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites, and the NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft in November 2021.
So it comes as no surprise that SpaceX successfully finished its latest flight.
SpaceX Satellite Launch 2022: The Starlink Network
The latest launch is also the third SpaceX Starlink mission for February. On February 3, the company launched 49 satellites, and on February 21, another batch of 46 satellites. This means that SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 internet satellites to the skies.
Note that the company has permission to launch up to 12,000 satellite units. However, they also applied for approval to launch up to 30,000 more. The situation is still progressing, so it is hard to determine whether SpaceX will get its approval or not.
How to Watch Starlink in Your Location Online
On a different topic, SpaceX fans might also be interested in sky-watching the Starlink network. There is an online tool that can help fans plan out for the event.
Fans can use this tool by heading to the Find My Starlink page. Here they can input their country and location by searching on the options listed in the dropbox.
If they want to, fans can also opt to input their location by coordinates. After all the necessary information have been provided, fans should click on "Find Visible Times."
The results for the Starlink network should automatically be generated, but be warned that the data is not 100 percent accurate. Also, the satellites are extremely difficult to find during daytime.
If fans are lucky enough, they will get the Starlink time schedule for "Timings with good visibility." On the flip side, the online tool will also list out schedules for "average visibility" and "poor visibility" on the constellation network.
