Watch: SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket with 52 more Starlink satellites into Orbit

After facing delays due to the weather, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched another massive batch of its Starlink internet satellites to low-Earth orbit and land a rocket on a ship at sea at 7:44 AM IST on Wednesday. A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket with 52 Starlink satellites lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida after facing a delay once due to high winds. 

SpaceX said that the first stage booster supporting the mission had previously launched one Starlink mission and SES-22. Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth and land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean after the completion of the stage operation.

Starlink is SpaceX's expanding constellation of broadband satellites and it has over 2,200 active craft in space. To achieve its goal, Musk’s aerospace company has launched satellites from both the US coasts. SpaceX had launched 53 Starlink satellites on July 24 which was also just the fifth launch for the program that month alone. 

Why Elon Musk is launching so many satellites?

Elon Musk’s aerospace company, SpaceX has been launching thousands of satellites into orbit for several months now under its Starlink program aimed at providing high-speed internet services to particularly remote areas. With the ‘web of satellites’ in space, Starlink will be providing the facility. It should be mentioned that Satrlink’s satellites have been put in low-level orbit around the Earth to make the connection between the satellites faster. 

It is believed that Starlink has put thousands of satellites into space since 2018 but it might have to use 10,000 or 12,000 as per experts. Moreover, it should also be noted that SpaceX is charging customers $99 per month to provide Starlink services and the dish router needed to connect to the satellites costs $549. The company has also claimed that it has 400,000 subscribers in 36 nations and presently it covers parts of America, Europe and Australia. 

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