On August 1st, SpaceX will launch its 10th batch of Starlink satellites from its base in Florida, a launch that has been delayed several times.
SpaceX will be launching 57 Starlink satellites plus two guest payloads for BlackSky. The launch is scheduled for 3:21 a.m. Florida time (7:21 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
This will be the fifth launch of the Falcon 9 first stage, and the landing attempt after launch will take place a short distance from SpaceX's floating barge "Of Course I Still Love You".
The launch is also important because each of the 57 Starlink satellites has been equipped with so-called sunshades to help reduce the impact of sunlight on the spacecraft and thus reduce the number of complaints from Earth-based observers.
A successful launch will increase the total number of Starlink spacecraft in orbit to nearly 600.
SpaceX, according to Bloomberg reports, is seeking another billion dollars in its "Nth" round, which, according to analysts, would value SpaceX at around $44 billion and make it the third-largest private company in the world.
Recall that Musk's plan is to encircle the Earth with tens of thousands of broadband high-speed satellites. Musk says Starlink "will rapidly expand to near-global coverage of the inhabited world by 2021. Starlink will provide high-speed broadband internet to places where access has been unreliable, expensive, or completely unavailable."