SpaceX launches Falcon 9 with 1st broadband internet satellites

LOS ANGELES - SpaceX completed another launch of its Falcon 9 rocket early Thursday with first two prototype satellites of its global broadband internet-in-space project, Starlink, successfully deployed in orbit.

"First two Starlink demo satellites, called Tintin A & B, deployed and communicating to Earth stations," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted.

A used Falcon 9 rocket blasted off at 6:17 am local time (1417 GMT) on Thursday from Space Launch Complex 4E at California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The Falcon 9's first stage separates from the second stage moments after about two minutes from liftoff.

The launch's primary mission is to deliver PAZ, a radar-imaging satellite, into orbit for the Spain-based company Hisdesat.

"Successful deployment of PAZ satellite to low-Earth orbit confirmed," the California-based company confirmed.

According to the mission description, equipped with an advanced radar instrument, PAZ will cover the entire globe in 24 hours, serving both commercial and government needs. Designed for a mission life of five and a half years, PAZ will orbit Earth 15 times per day, covering an area of over 300,000 square kilometers from an altitude of 514 kilometers and a velocity of seven kilometers per second.

However, Paz was not riding alone on the recycled Falcon 9. Quietly on board were SpaceX's two experimental broadband satellites, Microsat-2a and Microsat-2b, a big first step in SpaceX's long-term plan to create satellite internet over the next decade.