SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from California
May 13, 2022 Updated Fri., May 13, 2022 at 4:54 p.m.
VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE, Calif. — A SpaceX rocket carrying 53 satellites for the Starlink internet constellation blasted off from California on Friday.
The Falcon 9 booster lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:07 p.m., and minutes later the first stage landed on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean while the second stage continued toward low Earth orbit.
Satellite deployment was scheduled to occur about an hour later.
Starlink is a space-based system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world.
Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has hundreds of Starlink satellites orbiting Earth at an altitude of 340 miles.
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