SpaceX launches cluster of Starlink satellites

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket into space Saturday morning, carrying 60 Internet satellites into orbit to help establish connections to remote areas.

The launch, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, took off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. It went off without a hitch with the booster rocket safely landing on SpaceX's drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

The upper stage of the Falcon 9 deployed the satellites into orbit 63 minutes after takeoff, allowing SpaceX to build on its previous successes.

SpaceX had put 180 Starlink satellites into space before Saturday's launch. The launch was the mission's 15th, but only the 14th with operational broadband satellites. The Starlink constellation currently boasts in excess of 800 mini satellites.

"The goal of Starlink is to create a network that will help provide internet services to those who are not yet connected, and to provide reliable and affordable Internet across the globe," according to the Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX was originally scheduled to launch Starlink-14 on Wednesday, but bad weather forced officials to scrub the launch. Liftoff was rescheduled for Thursday, but when a camera on the rocket's upper stage failed, officials decided to nix the launch again.

SpaceX fans and media members have taken to referring to October as "Scrubtober" on social media, as SpaceX has been continually frustrated by poor weather and launch delays.

Despite the delays, SpaceX is inching closer to being able to offer everyday Internet users the chance to surf the web using Starlink.

Earlier this month, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Starlink's constellation had grown large enough to begin beta-testing the Internet service system in both the United States and southern Canada.

Earlier this week, SpaceX announced that it would offer Starlink's broadband services free of charge to families in Texas' Ector County Independent School District. More than a third of children and their families in the district are without Internet access.