Tech Desk 
Dec 29, 2024
With the end of 2024 inching closer, Elon Musk's multi-billion-dollar aerospace firm SpaceX observed one of the last three rocket launches scheduled for 2024.
Flying past earth's orbit, a Falcon 9 rocket containing 22 satellites lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California On Saturday. The extraterrestrial flight took off at 8:48pm from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E), The News cited Space.com.
The satellites were heading to reach the low Earth orbit over an hour after the launch. It was the company's132nd Falcon launch of 2024.
The remaining two Falcon 9 launches include a commercial communications satellites mission and another batch of Starlink satellites.
“We’re now targeting 134 launches — two shy of our last goal — to finish 2024 strong," wrote Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s vice president of launch. “Here’s to an awesome last couple of days in 2024 and an even better 2025!” he added
The first stage of the Falcon 9 in question safely returned to earth about eight minutes after the liftoff on Saturday, landing on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean.
The company said it was the 16th landing for this particular booster, with 12 of its 16 flights to date being part of Starlink missions.
As per satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, the Starlink mega constellation currently consists of around 6,700 active spacecraft, the biggest constellation assembled ever.
