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SpaceX has launched 52 more Starlink satellites, plus payloads for two other firms, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The launch at 6:56 p.m. Saturday was successful, SpaceX said, with all satellites released into orbit about an hour after liftoff. This brings the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 1,600, according to astronomers.
The roc SpaceX has launched 52 more Starlink satellites, plus payloads for two other firms, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The launch at 6:56 p.m. Saturday was successful, SpaceX said, with all satellites released into orbit about an hour after liftoff. This brings the number of Starlink satellites in orbit to more than 1,600, according to astronomers.
The rocket's first stage - being used for the eighth time - was recovered, landing on a company droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch was the fourth Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites in a little over two weeks, and the ninth such launch since March 1.
Elon Musk's SpaceX also offers rideshare services on some missions, and this one carried payloads for a radar imaging satellite for Capella Space and a satellite for Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems called a Tyvak-0130, described in government documents as "an optical spectrum astronomy observation satellite."
According to the live webcast of the launch, company engineer Kate Tice said SpaceX "offers multiple launch opportunities" to companies that want to send payloads aloft on Starlink missions.
SpaceX also noted during the live webcast the announcement earlier this week of its partnership with Google, utilizing that firm's cloud data centers to provide new services. SpaceX has been stressing providing high-speed Internet services to underserved areas around the world.
Beta testing is ongoing in several counties, including the United States, Austria, France and the Netherlands.
Source: United Press International
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SpaceX launches 60 Starlink satellites from Florida
Washington DC (UPI) May 4, 2021
Elon Musk's SpaceX launched the company's 26th cluster of Starlink broadband communication satellites from Florida on Tuesday afternoon. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 60 satellites, occurred as planned at just after 3 p.m. EDT from launchpad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX recovered the first-stage booster of the rocket on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean - the ninth time for that booster. After a little more than an hour in flight, SpaceX successfully deployed the satellite ... read more