A Ukrainian An-124 Ruslan aircraft has delivered a satellite for Elon Musk's SpaceX from Toulouse, France, to NASA's Shuttle Landing Facility in the United States.
This was reported by the press service of Antonov Airlines on Twitter.
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"We have safely transported our largest satellite to date! From Biagnac airport, Toulouse [Toulouse-Blagnac Airport], France to NASA Shuttle Landing Facility airport, Titusville, USA," it said. "Weighing 55 tonnes the SpaceX satellite was transported on an AN-124 in a specially built container designed by Airbus."
The An-124 Ruslan took off from Blagnac Airport and successfully landed in Titusville, Florida, at the airfield, which before 2011 was used by NASA to send shuttles into space.
Starlink: Elon Musk's project
- SpaceX has been developing the Starlink project since the end of 2014, when Elon Musk first announced plans to cover the world with Internet from space. Since the beginning of the year, SpaceX has already conducted 13 launches in the interests of Starlink, bringing the orbital constellation to 893 vehicles. By the end of this year, Elon Musk's company plans to perform two more launches. That is, by the end of the year, SpaceX will have nearly 1,000 Starlink satellites.
- On November 25, 2020, SpaceX successfully launched another 60 mini satellites into orbit to deploy Starlink's global internet coverage.
