Cape Canaveral, FL -- SpaceX is celebrating the successful launch and landing of a Falcon 9 rocket.
The mission deployed 60 Starlink satellites that will be used to provide low-cost internet service around the world.
About 10 minutes after the launch from Cape Canaveral, the first-stage rocket booster successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
It was the fourth time SpaceX used the same booster rocket to carry a payload into orbit.
The space-tech company is deploying thousands of satellites into space by the end of 2020 to beam broadband internet back from space.
They’ve laid plans to launch an unprecedented number of space missions, 24 so far, dedicated to hauling batches of its broadband bearing satellites, into space.
According to documents filed with the Federal Communications Commission, those satellites will create Starlink, a constellation planned to cover more territory using fewer satellites to beam internet back to earth.
They areas they are looking to cover first are the hurricane belt in the southern US territories like Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, that would keep them online, even after a storm damages terrestrial coverage.
SpaceX is receiving its share of challenges from potential competitors including OneWeb, and FCC has yet to approve the plans, but regulators seem to be eager to accommodate Space X’s plans.
The company hopes to be the largest internet provider in the southern U.S. by the end of next year.
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