Q&A with Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium (members only)

The launch of 60 Starlink Internet satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Sunday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida will mark SpaceX’s first mission to fly a Falcon first stage for a fifth time, and the second to launch with a reused payload fairing.

Joining other established commercial geostationary satellite operators looking at fleets of communications platforms in low Earth orbit, Eutelsat announced Thursday it will launch a small testbed next year as a precursor to a potential network of data relay craft flying a few hundred miles above the planet.

SpaceX’s ocean-going rocket landing pad — dubbed the autonomous spaceport drone ship — is back in port after a Falcon 9 rocket booster crashed on the platform during an experimental flyback maneuver following Saturday’s successful liftoff with supplies for the International Space Station.