SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 9 rocket with 60 satellites on board
The satellites will beam internet service to hard-to-access places across the world.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:56 a.m. Monday, with 60 Starlink satellites on board.
The satellites will beam internet service to hard-to-access places across the world, according to SpaceX, which was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk.
It was the fourth launch for the Falcon 9, and the first time that SpaceX reused the tip of the rocket known as the fairing. SpaceX deployed a first round of Starlink satellites in May.
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Watch the launch, starting at 5:30 in the following video:
"Enabled by a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites, Starlink will provide fast, reliable internet to populations with little or no connectivity, including those in rural communities and places where existing services are too expensive or unreliable," the company said.
The satellites successfully deployed from the rocket about an hour after liftoff 174 miles above the earth.
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"Prior to orbit raise, SpaceX engineers will conduct data reviews to ensure all Starlink satellites are operating as intended," SpaceX said before launch. "Once the checkouts are complete, the satellites will then use their onboard ion thrusters to move into their intended orbits."
The company says it is four successful launches away from offering broadband internet in parts of the U.S. and Canada.
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"In a year and a half, maybe two years, if things go well, SpaceX will probably have more satellites in orbit than all other satellites combined — a majority of the satellites in orbit will be SpaceX," Musk said in May.