Jorge Villalba/iStock
(COCOA BEACH, Fla.) — SpaceX launched 60 more satellites Monday as part of CEO Elon Musk’s “Starlink” mission to bring high-speed internet to large, remote swaths of the world.
“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,” SpaceX said in a statement announcing the launch.
The launch began at 9:56 a.m. ET on Monday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and was livestreamed on SpaceX’s website. The satellites launched from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Approximately an hour after liftoff, SpaceX confirmed that all 60 Starlink satellites successfully deployed.
Successful deployment of 60 Starlink satellites confirmed! pic.twitter.com/bpBqO9oYR3
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 11, 2019
Monday’s satellite launch is the “heaviest payload to date, first re-flight of a fairing, and first Falcon 9 to fly a fourth mission,” the company said in a tweet prior to the launch.
Starlink vertical on the pad pic.twitter.com/WuiB1piKcK
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 11, 2019
The Starlink mission aims to provide internet in the northern U.S. and Canada in 2020 and expand to “near global coverage of the populated world by 2021,” according to SpaceX’s website.
Sending this tweet through space via Starlink satellite