Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, 'Out There,' was published on Nov. 13, 2018.
8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflightBut the Ariane 5 retired last summer without a ready successor, and Europe cut most of its space ties with Russia following the latter's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. So, late last year, the European Space Agencyto launch up to four Galileo craft over two launches in 2024. Tonight's mission is presumably the first of those two liftoffs.
The Galileo satellites reside in medium Earth orbit, 14,430 miles above our planet, which means there will be no rocket landing tonight — a rarity these days for a SpaceX flight. "Due to the additional performance required to deliver the payload to medium Earth orbit, this mission marks the 20th and final launch for this Falcon 9 first stage booster," SpaceX wrote in the mission description.
The Falcon 9 stage that already has 20 launches under its belt, by contrast, landed safely after its record flight on April 12. Starlink satellites fly inSpaceX launches Crew-8 astronaut mission to International Space Station for NASA Tonight's launch is part of a busy weekend for SpaceX; the company also plans to launch yet another Starlink batch on Sunday evening fromAnd the weekend is part of a very busy year. SpaceX has already launched 41 orbital missions in 2024, 28 of which have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: and joined the team in 2010.
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