On November 13 at 12:19 UTC, the Starlink L31 mission launched atop Falcon 9 booster 1058 from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This was the ninth flight for Booster 1058, which successfully landed on the drone ship Just Read The Instructions. It is now in the exclusive club of Falcon 9 boosters which have flown more than eight times. Booster 1049 and 1051 have flown ten times each. All 53 satellites were successfully deployed into orbit after one upper stage burn.

If it seems like the pace of Starlink launches has slowed from the beginning of the year, you’re right. The last Starlink launch before this one was in September. Before that, the last launch was in May. According to SpaceX on a Starlink support page, this new batch of satellites was delayed because of the global microchip shortage.

This was the first launch of the fourth shell of the Starlink constellation, which will see the same number again of satellites launched in the first shell launched into an orbit 20 kilometers higher than the first one and at a slightly higher inclination.

Starlink L31 features the first batch of Version 1.5 satellites to be put in orbit. This newest version now has satellite laser interlinks as a standard feature. Previously, the technology was tested on just a handful of older satellites. The laser links make the satellites somewhat heavier than the older models. Between the extra mass and the slightly more inclined orbit, Falcon 9 can only carry 53 instead of the previous 60.

More Information

Starlink-28 discussion thread (Reddit)

Launch video