SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites into orbit on Sunday, March 14, 2021. The Falcon 9's B1051 booster then achieved a historic ninth landing at sea.
This mission marked SpaceX's eighth launch of 2021, lifting off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center around noon French time. Roughly nine minutes later, the first stage executed its ninth landing on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You off Florida's coast—a record for any Falcon 9 booster.
B1051 first flew in March 2019, carrying an uncrewed Crew Dragon to the International Space Station (ISS) for a demonstration. It later deployed Canadian Earth observation satellites from California, flew five Starlink missions, and delivered a Sirius XM broadband satellite.
SpaceX designs Falcon boosters for up to 10 flights with minimal refurbishment. This mission edges closer to that goal.
In 2021, SpaceX ramped up Falcon 9 launches for Starlink deployments, ISS crew rotations, and Starship tests—its next-generation fully reusable spacecraft.
This launch brings SpaceX's active Starlink fleet to over 1,300 satellites. The initial constellation targets 1,440, with plans for at least 12,000 more in the coming years.
Starlink remains in beta, serving select users in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, and New Zealand.
In France, Jean-Luc Mélenchon's La France Insoumise party recently proposed a moratorium on the project, seeking a public vote. The amendment was ultimately deemed inadmissible.
