SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket minutes ahead of IPO

CAPE CANAVERAL, Jun 12: SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket loaded with Starlink satellites Friday less than an hour before Elon Musk's company lifts off for the largest IPO in history on Wall Street.

"Go SpaceX, go Starlink to all SpaceXers, new and old. Let's see what's out there. Occupy Mars!" a SpaceX official said in a live feed of the launch from Cape Canaveral, on Florida's east coast.

The rocket was carrying 29 Starlink internet satellites, destined to join an existing network of more than 10,000 satellites.�" AFP