SPACEX

Days After Making History, SpaceX Is Back at It With Another Launch

This time, the SoCal-based company's rocket will carrying broadband internet satellites into space

What to Know

  • SpaceX will launch another rocket Wednesday. This one is carrying a series of broadband internet satellites.
  • The launch window for the Falcon 9 rocket will open at 5:55 p.m. California time.
  • Starlink is SpaceX founder Elon Musk's planned worldwide broadband service, designed to offer low-cost global internet access.

It has been a busy spring for Southern California-based SpaceX.

Four days after ending a nearly decade-long drought in spaceflight originating from American soil, the Hawthorne company will attempt to launch another rocket from Cape Canaveral Wednesday, this time carrying a series of broadband internet satellites.

The launch window for the Falcon 9 rocket will open at 5:55 p.m. California time.

The rocket will be carrying another batch of 60 Starlink satellites, adding to a growing array that is already more than 400 satellites strong, thanks to seven previous rocket launches.

For the first time in nearly a decade, the United States launched astronauts into orbit from U.S. soil. Sunday, the SpaceX Dragon Endeavor docked with the International Space Station.

Starlink is SpaceX founder Elon Musk's planned worldwide broadband service, designed to offer low-cost global internet access. The array is expected to ultimately include thousands of satellites, and an exact timeline for completion hasn't been determined.

The latest satellite launch had originally been scheduled in May, but it was postponed due to bad weather at the time. SpaceX then opted to put off the launch so it could focus on last week's historic launch of two astronauts to the International Space Station.

Saturday morning's launch marked the first manned space mission from American soil since the space shuttle program was retired in 2011. SpaceX also became the first private company to conduct such a launch.

Following Wednesday night's planned satellite launch, SpaceX will again attempt to recover the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage by landing it on a barge floating in the Atlantic Ocean.

The first stage of the rocket has been used in four previous SpaceX missions, highlighting the company's efforts to reuse rocket parts to save money on subsequent flights. 

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