SpaceX's space-Internet woes: Despite technical glitches, the company plans to launch the first of nearly 12,000 satellites in 2019

SpaceX has, of course, been ferrying quite a bit of stuff into space lately. [See "SpaceX and Blue Origin Face Off," in this issue.] But last February, SpaceX launched two small satellites of its own. They were for an initial test of gear intended for use in a globe-spanning broadband data network, called Starlink, made up of thousands of small satellites. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk nicknamed the two test satellites Tintin A and Tintin B, after the beloved Belgian cartoon character known for his adventures. And just as their fictional namesake often did, the satellites ran into unexpected troubles.