The mission, dubbed Transporter-1, carried 10 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink internet network, and more than 130 satellites for a variety of customers including Planet, which operates a constellation of Earth-imaging satellites, and ICEYE, which develops small radar satellites for monitoring ice and tracking floods.
The previous record for the most satellites sent to space in one trip was held by PSLV, an Indian rocket, that carried 104 satellites in a 2017 launch.
SpaceX's Transporter-1 mission was the first in new rideshare program that SpaceX announced in 2019. The company said at the time it will dedicate "regularly scheduled" launches of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket to carrying large batches of small satellites, or "smallsats," rather than focusing on one large, primary payload.
Smallsats have seen a meteoric rise in popularity over the past few years. They range in size from as small as a smartphone to as large as a kitchen refrigerator. And as they've grown more advanced, hoards of businesses have entered the market promising to deliver services using new smallsat technologies.
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