SpaceX Launches Starlink 4-18 with 53 more Starlink Satellites

Launch of Starlink 4-18 | Credit: SpaceX

On Wednesday, May 18 at 6:59am EDT (10:59 UTC), SpaceX launched the Starlink 4-18 mission with 53 more Starlink v1.5 satellites atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first stage for this mission, B1052, which previously flew on Arabsat 6A and STP-2 as a Falcon Heavy side booster and on CSG-2 and one Starlink mission as a Falcon 9 first stage, landed on the "A Shortfall of Gravitas" drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This was the 55th orbital launch attempt of 2022, 164th SpaceX mission, and the 156th Falcon 9 launch.