SpaceX launches 23 Starlink satellites to orbit from California (video, photos)

SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink satellites to orbit early Sunday (Aug. 4), continuing a busy stretch for the company.

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday at 3:24 a.m. EDT (0724 GMT; 12:24 a.m. local California time).

The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth about eight minutes after launch as planned, landing on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

It was the sixth launch and landing for this particular booster, according to SpaceX .

The Falcon 9's upper stage did its job as well, deploying the 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit as planned, the company announced via X .

Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky

— SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket suffers failure during Starlink satellite launch (video)

— SpaceX bounces back from Falcon 9 failure with successful Starlink launch (video)

— Rare SpaceX rocket failure shows exactly why NASA wants 2 commercial options to fly astronauts to ISS

Friday's launch was SpaceX's fifth in a little over a week, following a Starlink liftoff on July 27, two more on July 28 and yet another one on Friday (Aug. 2).

The Falcon 9 hadn't flown for two weeks before this busy stretch, grounded in the wake of a rare Falcon 9 failure on July 11 . That anomaly stemmed from a leak of liquid oxygen in the rocket's upper stage, which was caused by a crack in a line for a pressure sensor in the liquid-oxygen system — a problem that SpaceX has apparently solved, given the events of the past eight days.