SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with 40 more internet satellites for rival OneWeb

SpaceX launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with 40 more Internet satellites for OneWeb.
The final mission was to complete OneWeb’s first generation LEO satellite constellation and enable global coverage in 2023.
With 582 satellites now in orbit, OneWeb has accomplished its global goal of being the first generation LEO satellite constellation.
This launch enables OneWeb to continue expanding its connectivity capabilities.
The well-traveled first stage boosted the rocket out of the lower atmosphere and then fell away to fly itself back to a picture-perfect landing at the Space Force station while the second stage continued the climb to orbit.
The landing marked SpaceX’s 177th successful booster recovery and its 32nd at Cape Canaveral.
The second stage, meanwhile, reached its planned orbit after two engine firings and the first two 325-pound OneWeb satellites were released to fly on their own about an hour after launch.
The remaining 38 were released over the next 36 minutes.
Deployed in an initial 373-mile-high orbit tilted 87 degrees to the equator, the solar-powered satellites will use on-board xenon ion thrusters to reach their operational altitude of about 745 miles.
SpaceX and OneWeb are both building space-based constellations of broadband relay satellites, but the two companies are targeting different segments of the data communications marketplace.

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