Brendan McDermid/Reuters; Mark Handley/University College London
A composite image of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk, and an illustration of SpaceX's constellation of Starlink satellites to provide high-speed internet around the world.
- Elon Musk's rocket company, SpaceX, was meant to launch 60 satellites into space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday.
- But strong winds in the upper atmosphere forced the company to postpone the launch by 24 hours. The launch time will now be between 10:30 p.m. and midnight Thursday.
- The project, named Starlink, a multi-stage operation meant to launch satellites into space that can provide the world with high-speed internet. It is an ambitious project.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
SpaceX was forced to call off its highly-anticipated Starlink satellite launch due to strong winds in Earth's upper atmosphere, and has rescheduled to launch the rocket later on Thursday instead.
The rocket company, founded by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, was supposed to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
But around 15 minutes before the scheduled lift off, SpaceX called the mission off due to strong winds in the upper level of the atmosphere.
SpaceX stuffed a fleet of 60 Starlink internet-providing satellites into the nosecone of a Falcon 9 rocket for launch in May 2019.
The company tweeted: "Standing down today due to excess upper level winds. Teams are working toward tomorrow's backup launch window, which opens at 10:30 p.m. EDT."
It then postponed the launch by 24 hours. The new launch window is from 10:30 p.m. Thursday to midnight.
Read more: Here's how the ambitious Starlink project would work.
SpaceX was meant to rocket the first 60 of nearly 12,000 satellites into orbit as part of its goal to cover the world in high-speed internet.
The Starlink payload is 230 feet high and weighs 18.5 tons, making it the heaviest load the company has ever attempted to launch.
Musk told reporters on Wednesday, according to Business Insider's Dave Mosher: "I do believe we will be successful, but it is far from a sure thing."
SpaceX plans to complete Starlink in 2027. In its final form, it is supposed to comprise nearly 12,000 satellites in several orbital "shells" surrounding Earth.
The goal is to use Starlink to relay internet traffic at close to the speed of light.