SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:55 p.m. Monday, successfully deploying 51 Starlink internet satellites into Earth’s orbit, SpaceX confirmed.
The new satellite technology seeks to improve network and broadband signal interface for internet users around the world.
The mission marks the reusable, two-stage Falcon 9 booster’s 10th trip to space and back after it reentered Earth’s atmosphere on Monday night just minutes after blastoff from Space Launch Complex 4E.
The booster touched down on one of SpaceX’s rocket landing platforms named “Of Course I Still Love You,” located a few hundred miles downrange in the Pacific Ocean, according to SpaceX.
Monday’s successful launch clears the way for SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch, slated for Wednesday night from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, for the world’s first all-civilian human spaceflight to orbit.
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