SpaceX Falcon 9 Successfully Launches New Starlink Satellites Following Anomaly Review
According to the Economic Desk of Webangah News Agency, SpaceX successfully launched another group of Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on Saturday, February 7th, five days after a halt prompted by an anomaly during the preceding launch attempt.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 25 Starlink satellites lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 3:58 PM Eastern Time. Approximately one hour later, SpaceX confirmed that all satellites were deployed as planned, marking a swift return to operational tempo for the aerospace manufacturer.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 completed its thirteenth flight, concluding with a successful landing on one of SpaceX’s uncrewed drone ships stationed in the Pacific Ocean. This reuse capability remains central to the company’s operational model.
The upper stage performance followed an unexpected event during the previous mission on February 2nd, after SpaceX had deployed its prior batch of Starlink hardware. SpaceX officials detailed the issue on the company’s website, stating: “The second stage did not re-light due to a gas bubble in the transfer line prior to the planned pre-burn for deorbit. Subsequently, the vehicle performed as expected, executing the deorbit burn successfully and re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere approximately 10.5 hours later over the Southern Indian Ocean.”
SpaceX submitted a report to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), outlining the probable cause of the malfunction and detailing the corrective measures implemented before Saturday’s launch. Following this review, the FAA granted the company permission to resume its launch cadence.
The flight on Saturday constituted SpaceX’s fifteenth launch of the current year. Satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell noted that the active constellation size for Starlink has now surpassed 9,600 operational units.
