SpaceX Surpasses 10,000 Simultaneous Starlink Satellites in Orbit

SpaceX crossed the threshold of having more than 10000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit simultaneously for the first time March 17.

The milestone comes less than seven years after launching its first batch of satellites in May 2019.

The launch of 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California pushed the constellation over 10000 satellites. Liftoff happened at 1019 p.m. PDT.

Coincidentally the launch also coincided with the 100th anniversary of Robert Goddards launch of the first liquid-propelled rocket. A century later SpaceXs launch was the 615th flight of the Falcon 9 kerosene-fueled rocket.

This was the 17th orbital launch from Vandenberg so far this year.