July 12 (UPI) -- Following a successful launch from California's Vandenberg Space Force Station on Thursday night, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket suffered an anomaly, resulting in its payload of 20 Starlink satellites being deployed into orbit lower than intended.
The Falcon 9 rocket launched at 7:39 p.m. PT Thursday from Vandenberg's Launch Complex 4 without issue.
The rocket's first-stage returned to Earth about t 8 1/2 minutes after launch, landing on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship that had been waiting for it in the Pacific Ocean.
But then the second stage of the two-stage rocket where the payload is stored encountered an issue, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said on X, which he also owns.
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The Starlink satellites were deployed, he confirmed, but said possibly "too low for them to raise orbit."
"Will know more in a few hours," he said, adding that they are reviewing data to determine the root cause of the problem.
SpaceX explained on X that the rocket's second-stage engine did not complete its second burn, which caused the low orbit deployment of the satellites.
The company has made contact with five of the deployed satellites, it said, adding that it was attempting to raise their orbit with the use of ion thrusters.
Musk added that they were updating satellite software to run their thrusters at "their equivalent of warp 9."
"Unlike a Star Trek episode, this will probably not work, but it's worth a shot," he said.
"The satellite thrusters need to raise orbit faster than atmospheric drag pulls them down or they burn up."
The mission was SpaceX's 364th.
SpaceX has deployed more than 6,000 Starlink satellites into space as part of plans to offer high-speed, low-latency Internet worldwide.
