SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches new batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit, misses rocket landing

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 Starlink internet satellites lifts off from Space Launch Complex 40 of Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida at 10:59 p.m. EST on Feb. 15, 2021. (Image credit: SpaceX)

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a new batch of 60 Starlink internet satellites into orbit late Monday, but failed to stick its landing on a floating platform at sea.

The two-stage Falcon 9 booster, topped with the 60 broadband spacecraft, lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:59 p.m. EST (0359 GMT on Feb. 16). Approximately nine minutes later, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth to attempt its sixth landing on SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Atlantic Ocean,” but missed its target.

“It does look like we did not land our booster on Of Course I Still Love You tonight,” SpaceX manufacturing engineer Jessica Anderson said during live launch commentary. “It is unfortunate that we did not recover this booster but our second stage is still on a nominal trajectory.”

SpaceX prefers to recover its Falcon 9 rocket stages for reuse, but the company has also said repeatedly that delivering a flight’s payload to orbit is always the primary mission.