CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -— SpaceX expanded its constellation of low Earth orbit satellites on Saturday with the launch of 53 Starlink satellites from Florida.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral House Power Station at 7:19 a.m. EST and deployed the satellites about 16 minutes after launch.

The rocket’s reusable first stage, which has been used for a number of launches, together with the primary crewed take a look at flight of SpaceX‘s Crew Dragon spacecraft, efficiently returned and landed on the “Simply Learn the Directions” droneship within the Atlantic Ocean.

Starlink is a satellite-based international web system that SpaceX has been constructing for years to carry web entry to underserved areas of the world.

Earlier this week, SpaceX launched 4 astronauts to the Worldwide House Station, together with the 600th individual to achieve house in 60 years.

It took 21 hours for the flight from NASA’s Kennedy House Heart to achieve the glittering outpost.

The astronauts acquired emotional after they first noticed the house station from 20 miles (32 kilometers) out, calling it “a reasonably wonderful sight.”

Three astronauts welcomed the crew as a substitute of the popular seven.

That’s as a result of SpaceX introduced 4 of them again on Monday, after the launch of their replacements saved getting delayed.

The brand new crew will spend the following six months on the house station and, throughout that point, host two teams of visiting vacationers.

Russia will launch the primary group in December and SpaceX the second in February.