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HAWTHORNE (CNS) - Hawthorne-based SpaceX completed its mission of launching 53 Starlink satellites from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this morning.
The latest mission that began at 3:59 a.m. from Launch Complex 39A adds to the array of satellites put in low orbit around Earth using SpaceX rockets. It was the fifth flight for the Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting the mission. In previous missions, the Falcon 9 boosters have launched Arabsat-6A, STP-2, COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2, and one Starlink mission.
Starlink service is already available in 32 countries.
According to the Hawthorne aerospace company, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket used in Wednesday's launch had already flown five previous missions for SpaceX, which has pioneered efforts to recover rockets for re-use, dramatically cutting the costs of future flights.