SpaceX launched 22 more of its Starlink internet satellites on Thursday (Feb. 15), the third mission in less than 24 hours for the company.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Thursday at 4:34 p.m. EST (1:34 p.m. local California time, or 2134 GMT).
The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff as planned. It made a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
It was the second launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Its previous flight was also a Starlink mission.
The rocket's upper stage, meanwhile, continued powering its way skyward, eventually deploying the satellites into low Earth orbit.
The Starlink launch was the final leg of a spaceflight tripleheader for SpaceX. On Wednesday evening (Feb. 14), the company launched the classified USSF-124 mission for the U.S. Space Force.
Then, at 1:05 a.m. EST (0605 GMT) on Thursday, SpaceX launched the private IM-1 moon-landing mission from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.
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