Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk-owned SpaceX on Thursday successfully launched 53 more Starlink satellites to earth’s low orbit from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
What Happened: SpaceX’s partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket that can transport payloads as well as humans into earth and beyond, launched the satellites at 1:51 p.m. ET.
Minutes after the liftoff, the Falcon 9 successfully landed back on the "Just Read the Instructions" droneship, completing this booster’s 12th launch and landing.
The automated drone ship floats on the Atlantic Ocean and helps SpaceX lower costs further.
SpaceX shared the live broadcast on Twitter, along with updates on the liftoff and the deployment.
'UFO Sightings:' Some U.S. residents mistook Starlink's chain of satellites to be "UFO sightings" on Thursday.
So what appeared to be a #ufo over #cleveland was most likely the #SpaceX #Starlink satellites that launched from #florida today. That’s awesome but a ufo would’ve been better thanks @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/WHgIIOP9uO
— Matthew Shoemaker (@MattShoemaker88) April 22, 2022
Space enthusiasts can track exactly where Starlink satellites are via the findstarlink website.
Why It Matters: Starlink is a SpaceX venture designed to beam down high-speed internet, especially in remote areas from satellites in orbit to Earth.
Musk recently said the service would be expanded to 14 countries and that the company is awaiting licences in several other countries.
Starlink is known to have launched over 1,500 satellites. The company hopes to have 4,425 satellites in orbit by 2024. The Federal Communications Commission has approved 11,943 satellites to be launched by Starlink.
