SpaceX launched another 52 Starlink satellites from Florida Saturday — and their rockets were seen as far as Long Island on their way into space.
A Falcon 9 rocket equipped with the satellites blasted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:32 p.m. on Saturday night.
The rocket appeared comet-like over Long Island, where lucky viewers could see a brilliant ball of light propelling through the sky trailed by a luminous tail.
Nine minutes after launch, the Falcon-9’s first stage booster separated from the rocket and tumbled back towards Earth where it was landed on a “droneship” stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, according to SpaceX’s details of the launch.
Just over 15 minutes after launch, SpaceX confirmed that the satellites had been deployed.
Earlier this month, SpaceX successfully launched 35 satellites into orbit, including a huge test satellite built to provide power to smartphones in remote areas.
The new Starlink satellites joined a constellation of about 3,000 others in low Earth orbit, providing internet access to more than 400,000 subscribers, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX CEO and co-founder Elon Musk appeared to confirm on Friday that he will make Starlink available in Iran after the government has limited internet access as protests against the regime have erupted nationwide.
