This video image provided by SpaceX shows a SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to launch 53 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E), takes off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. Photo: AP/PTI

A SpaceX rocket carried 53 satellites for the Starlink internet constellation into orbit after blasting off from California.

The Falcon 9 booster lifted off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:07 pm and minutes later, the first stage landed on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean while the second stage continued toward low Earth orbit.

SpaceX later tweeted that the satellites were successfully deployed.

Starlink is a space-based system that SpaceX has been building for years to bring internet access to underserved areas of the world. Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX has hundreds of Starlink satellites orbiting Earth at an altitude of 340 miles (550 kilometres).

          Source: AP