SpaceX continues its rapid expansion, launching Starlink satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This brings the total number of launches to over 1,300. [Earlier today (March 24), the 25th Starlink satellite mission to date was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket also successfully landed on SpaceX's floating platform.

The launch was SpaceX's ninth of 2021, bringing the total number of satellite launches this year to 430, a rapid pace since between 2018 and 2020, Elon Musk's rocket company launched only 895 satellites into orbit.

"This is the sixth landing for this booster and the 78th overall," SpaceX production supervisor Andy Tran said via an online launch stream." What a way to start the day."

With this launch, Starlink will have a total of 1,325 satellites. The first Starlink satellite Internet constellation will be 1,440, meaning that Elon Musk is only a few launches away from reaching his original goal.

"With over 100 successful Falcon 9 flights to date and 78 first stage recoveries, we have made a lot of progress since then," Tran said.

As for how this will affect current coverage, areas of northern latitude, i.e., above Seattle and up to Canada, should see more stable coverage. Current Starlink coverage map data shows that users south of Seattle can also access service, but currently the best reception is at higher latitudes.

While 1,325 satellites is an impressive number, it is still far from Starlink's ultimate goal of launching 12,000 satellites into space.

Note that Starlink has asked the Federal Communications Commission to launch a total of 30,000 satellites in May 2020. This may be for a second-generation deployment aimed at improving service.