FLORIDA — SpaceX launched its record 12th mission of the Falcon 9 rocket overnight, carrying 53 Starlink satellites into orbit.
The launched occurred at 12:42 a.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
This Falcon 9 first stage booster previously launched Dragon’s first crew demonstration mission, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SXM-7, and now nine Starlink missions, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said this launch was the heaviest Falcon 9 payload at 16.25 metric tons.
The satellites will help provide internet service to customers around the world.
They later announced that the deployment of the 53 Starlink satellites was confirmed.