SpaceX ties record for reused Falcon 9 rocket on 50th Starlink launch

July 7 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched one of its Falcon 9 rockets for the 13th time Thursday morning, tying a company record for the reusable rocket.

The California space exploration company's Falcon 9 rocket conducted a perfect launch, carrying 53 of its Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This was the 50th launch of Starlink satellites for the company.

This also marks the 13th flight for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched the Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1 and Transporter-3 missions followed by eight successive Starlink flights.

Less than 10 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's first stage rocket came back to Earth, touching down on the SpaceX droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.

The 13th successful launch ties a record the company set during another of its Starlink satellite launches in June.

The company streamed the launch online but the broadcast ended before it deployed satellites.

"Deployment of 53 Starlink satellites confirmed," the company later confirmed on Twitter.

SpaceX has launched more than 2,300 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit since it first launched its so-called megaconstellation project in 2019. The company already has permission to launch 12,000 of the satellites into space, and is looking to grow that number by 30,000 more.

The satellites provide Internet access to more than two dozen countries.