Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk-owned SpaceX on Wednesday successfully launched a fresh fleet of 53 Starlink satellites to earth’s low orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
What Happened: SpaceX launched the satellites at 6:59 a.m. ET, nearly 39 minutes later than originally planned, on its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket that landed back on "A Shortfall of Gravitas" droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon 9 launches 53 Starlink satellites to orbit pic.twitter.com/k80YtDCGYu
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 18, 2022
The space firm shared photographs of the liftoff on Twitter, a short clip of the Falcon 9 landing on the droneship, and a map of Starlink’s availability across the globe.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship pic.twitter.com/2sNklBXGP8
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 18, 2022
See Also: Elon Musk's SpaceX To Launch Another 53 Starlink Satellites Tomorrow
Why It Matters: Starlink’s constellation of satellites beams down high-speed internet services, especially to the most remote areas on earth.
SpaceX is known to have launched over 2,000 Starlink satellites, with plans to increase that number to 4,425 by 2024.
Falcon 9 is the world’s first orbital-class reusable rocket. The reusability factor brings down costs significantly as it allows the space agency to refly the most expensive parts of the rocket.
