March 31 (UPI) -- SpaceX on Monday launched another batch of satellites from Starlink mission launches from Florida on Monday afternoon, about 5 1/2 hours before another Falcon 9 nearby was to send a privately funded crew into space.
The SpaceX rocket lifted off at 3:52 p.m. EDT, sending 28 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit from Page 40. This was the 17th flight for the first stage booster, including 11 Starlink missions and resupply missions to the International Space Station.
About eight minutes later, the first-stage booster landed aboard SpaceX's Just Read the instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
From Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX planned to launch Fram2 from pad 39A, the first crewed mission to orbit Earth's poles, at 9:46 p.m.
The afternoon lift was SpaceX's 451th Falcon 9 launch since debuting in 2010.
Before Monday's launch, there were 7,135 Starlink satellites in orbit, of which 7,105 are working, according to Astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks the constellation on his website.
Starlink satellites orbit approximately 342 miles above Earth