On February 16 at 03:59 UTC, Booster 1059 made its sixth, and as it would turn out, last flight from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Onboard were another sixty Starlink satellites to add to the mega-constellation, bringing the total to 1,142 of a planned 1,440 satellites — just shy of being 80% complete.

This launch was normal through the first stage shutdown and separation. A keen observer might have noticed that the first stage reentry burn seemed a bit off from previous returns as it neared engine shutdown. At one point, the telemetry readings on-screen froze, indicating that SpaceX had lost telemetry. The webcast then switched to a camera on the drone ship, but the booster never appeared. The only evidence the booster got close to the barge was a bright orange flash in the cloud layer.  Shortly after it was announced on the stream that the booster was lost on landing.

Not all was lost: the second stage and payload continued on and reached orbit. After a half-hour coast and short restart, the sixty satellites were successfully deployed into orbit, completing the primary mission. SpaceX expects to lose a small percentage of boosters as part of normal operations, so this is not a big deal in the long term.

All future Starlink missions have been delayed indefinitely while SpaceX investigates what happened with booster 1059.

More Information

SpaceX launch notes (Archive.org)

Launch video