New Yorkers Can See SpaceX’s Starlink Satellites in Night Sky

By Yehudit Garmaise

Stargazing New Yorkers who look up tonight might notice a new chain of lights in the night sky.

The line of illuminated satellites are created by SpaceX’s Starlink, which aims to provide broadband internet worldwide.

Since 2019, SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, who also heads Tesla, Twitter, and other startups, has already launched approximately 3,000 satellites into orbit. 

Now that the Federal Communications Commission has approved SpaceX’s application to send an additional 7,500 satellites into orbit, the company is expected to launch thousands more strings of dashes to illuminate New York’s skyline.

The lights first appeared on the NYC skyline at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and will remain until Motzei Shabbos.

Readers can click this tracking website to determine the best times at which to view the satellites from different locations.

In 2002, Musk formed SpaceX “to revolutionize the aerospace industry and make affordable spaceflight a reality.” 

Ever the visionary, Musk’s stated goals for SpaceX were to reduce space transportation costs and to enable the colonization of Mars. 

On April 27, 2022, when SpaceX launched four space travelers on a Dragon spacecraft from the International Space Station, Musk’s space company had delivered 22 passengers into orbit and exceeded the number of people China, NASA’s biggest rival, had flown into space.

The Chinese space program, which flew its first mission 19 years ago, has flown 20 people into space.

Photo Credit: Flickr