Falcon 9 Rocket With Starlink System Satellites to Be Launched Wednesday

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The Falcon 9 carrier rocket with satellites for the Starlink system will be launched on Wednesday, private US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX said on Twitter.

"Targeting Wednesday, 18 March at 8:16 a.m. EDT, 12:16 UTC, for Falcon 9's launch of Starlink from LC-39A in Florida", it said.

Targeting Wednesday, March 18 at 8:16 a.m. EDT, 12:16 UTC, for Falcon 9's launch of Starlink from LC-39A in Florida

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 16, 2020

Initially, the launch of the rocket was to take place on Sunday but was cancelled a few seconds before the blastoff, with Space X providing no reason to explain the cancellation.

Starlink is a next-generation satellite network capable of providing the Earth with broadband Internet access. The project began in February 2018. About 12,000 satellites are planned to be launched in total. Another 30,000 satellites are expected to be put into orbit at altitudes ranging from 328 to 580 kilometres.