Lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, SpaceX’s 30th launch of 2023 placed 56 Starlink satellites into a low Earth orbit. Liftoff of the Starlink Group 5-6 mission took place May 4, 2023, at 03:31 AM EDT (07:31 UTC).
This mission marked SpaceX’s 27th Falcon 9 flight of the year — alongside two Falcon Heavy flights and Starship’s maiden integrated flight test. The company has launched a rocket on average every ~4.2 days in 2023. Additionally, this launch was SpaceX’s 157th Falcon 9 flight with a flight-proven booster.