Elon Musk Shares Stunning Views Of New Satellites Hundreds of Kilometers Above Earth

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In less than twelve hours after it stood down from a crewed NASA launch, SpaceX conducted its first launch of second generation Starlink satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch cleared up confusion around SpaceX's plans to upgrade its satellite internet consetllation, after the FCC granted the firm approval to launch the new spacecraft to orbit in December last year. SpaceX's Falcon 9 also landed for the 100th consecutive time off the Florida coast in the Atlantic Ocean, marking the company's 13th launch for the year.

SpaceX had applied to the FCC to secure approval for launching tens of thousands of second generation Starlink satellites as part of its plans to build the Starlink satellite internet constellation rapidly. These plans became controversial last year when it decided to upgrade the application and add Starship as a potential launch vehicle as well alongside the Falcon 9. SpaceX had proposed two launch configurations, mutually exclusive, through which it would either use the Falcon 9 or Starship to build the internet constellation.

Today's launch was SpaceX's 212 overall mission so far and the 13th launch of 2023. Additonally it also marked the 100th time that the company successfully landed the Falcon 9 rocket - setting a new world record in the process. The rocket lifted off from the Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveal Space Force Station in Florida at 6:13 pm eastern time Florida.

Within a minute, the rocket had gone supersonic as it accelerated and traveled faster than the speed of sound. The launch also provided spectacular