Starlink begins deployment

On 23 May 2019, SpaceX launched the first 60 operational Starlink satellites, beginning construction of what would become the largest satellite constellation in history. The idea was audacious: blanket low Earth orbit with thousands of small satellites to deliver fast, low-latency internet anywhere on the planet.

It worked. Starlink now operates over 10,000 satellites and connects users in more than 150 countries — bringing real broadband to rural and remote places that terrestrial networks never reached, from farms and ships to scientific stations and disaster zones.

Crucially, Starlink is only possible because of SpaceX's reusable rockets, which can launch satellites cheaply and often. It is the clearest example of how lowering the cost of access to space unlocks entirely new industries. Within a few years of that first launch, Starlink grew from a wild idea into a service serving over ten million subscribers and a major revenue engine.