SpaceX Launches Starlink 4-8 with 49 More Starlink Satellites

Falcon 9 Taking Starlink 4-8 to Orbit

On Monday, February 20 at 9:44 am ET (16:13 UTC), SpaceX launched the Starlink Group 4 Launch 8 mission with 49 Starlink v1.5 satellites atop a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Starlink is SpaceX's low-cost high-speed low-latency internet designed to provide global internet service, particularly to people in remote places. Starlink has three versions: Starlink v1, Starlink v1.5 which has laser terminals, and Starlink v2 which will launch on Starship. Starlink has also 8 shells or groups (1 v1, 4 v1.5, and 3 v2) which must be all complete by 2027. At least 37 satellites from the previous Starlink mission, Starlink 4-8, were lost in a geomagnetic storm. These satellites were launched into a higher orbit to prevent this. The first stage for this mission (B1058), which previously flew on Dragon DM-2, ANASIS-II, Dragon CRS-21, Transporter 1, Transporter 3, and 5 Starlink missions, landed on the "A Shortfall of Gravitas" drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. B1058 became the second Falcon 9 booster to fly for the 11th time on this mission. This was the 17th orbital attempt of 2022, 150th SpaceX mission, and 142nd Falcon 9 launch.