SpaceX liftoff is 201st mission to expand its constellation of Earth-orbiting Starlink satellites
· UPIOct. 30 (UPI) -- SpaceX on Wednesday successfully launched a new batch of Starlink satellites into orbit after previously launching 200 similar missions.
A Falcon 9 rocket fitted with 23 Starlink satellites launched into low-Earth orbit on time at approximately 5:10 p.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
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The space mission's live-stream began minutes prior to liftoff during a relatively windy but clear day.
The rocket's first stage, following separation, was destined to land on "A Shortfall of Gravitas," a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Hundreds of Starlink satellites have been launched to expand the private company's existing constellation of satellites that bring global "high-speed, low-latency" Internet access to underserved regions around the world.
This was the 201st Starlink mission launch. The company had a goal to launch an average of 12 Falcon rockets per month at ideally 144 launches this year.
A past launch in July saw the arrival of Starlink Internet in Madagascar, the island nation to the African continents southeast, for the company's first time among other nations.
Meanwhile, this launch represented the 14th flight of the first stage booster supporting this particular mission, which previously launched mPOWER-B, BlueBird-1, Crew-6, USSF-124 and nine other Starlink missions into space.
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