SpaceX launches satellite to provide Wi-Fi in airplanes

Baku. 16 May. REPORT.AZ/ Falcon 9 rocket, owned by the US private company SpaceX, launched telecommunications satellite Inmarsat-5 F4, which, along with other satellites, will provide high-speed Internet aircraft and ships.

Report informs citing the BBC, the rocket and its payload lifted away from Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday at 19:21 local time (00:21 BST).

Inmarsat-5 F4 will be the fourth satellite in the Global Xpress orbital group, which is deployed to provide high-speed Internet in the sea, air and on land.

At 6 tonnes, the satellite was on the limit of the rocket's performance, meaning SpaceX had no spare propellant to follow its usual practice of landing the vehicle's first-stage back on Earth after the mission. The booster was allowed instead to fall back uncontrolled over the Atlantic.