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July 17 (UPI) -- SpaceX on Sunday launched 53 Starlink satellites after the company's Dragon cargo craft carrying crew supplies and scientific experiments docked with the International Space Station on Saturday. The Starlink satellites were launched to orbit from a Falcon 9 rocket at the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 10:20 a.m. Sunday.
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It was the 31st Flacon 9 mission.
Weather was 60% favorable before the liftoff, SpaceX said in a statement, and the Falcon 9's first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship at 10:29 a.m. The satellites were confirmed to have been deployed just a few minutes later.
SpaceX has launched more than 2,800 Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit to date.
The launch Sunday marked the 13th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Dragon's first crew demonstration mission, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SXM-7 and nine previous Starlink missions.
It came just a day after the company's Dragon cargo craft, launched Thursday, docked with the ISS at 11:21 a.m. on Saturday loaded with more than 5,800 pounds of new science experiments and crew supplies.
