![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20231222-B1058-Upright-Feature-Image.jpg)
Update 10:30 p.m. EST:
SpaceX is preparing a Falcon 9 first-stage booster for a record-breaking nineteenth launch just after midnight because it continues the expansion of its Starlink satellite constellation. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral is currently scheduled for 12:33 a.m. EST (0533 UTC).
First-stage B1058 is already the fleet leader with 18 missions and is poised to cement that position with the Starlink 6-32 mission, which can deliver 23 satellites to orbit. The booster first flew in May 2020 carrying astronauts for the primary time on the Demo-2 Crew Dragon mission. It still encompasses a faded NASA ‘worm’ logo from that mission.
![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20231222-B1058-worm.jpg)
The liftoff time slipped just over an hour from the opening of the window at 11 p.m. EST (0400 UTC) because the rocket wasn’t hoisted upright on the launch pad until around 7:35 p.m. EST (0035 UTC). SpaceX said it had backup launch opportunities available until 3 a.m. EST (0800 UTC) Saturday morning.
The forty fifth Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, said Thursday there was 60-70 percent likelihood of acceptable weather for launch with higher conditions on the opening of the window. The first concerns were violations of the thick cloud layer and cumulus cloud rules.
Spaceflight Now can have live coverage of the launch starting an hour prior to liftoff. You can even see views of the rocket in our Launch Pad Live stream.
The Falcon 9 first stage will land on the drone ship ‘Just Read the Instructions’ about eight and half minutes into the flight. Two burns of the rocket’s second stage will put the 23 second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit, with deployment occurring about one hour, five minutes after launch.
SpaceX revealed this week it’s Starlink web service now has 2.3 million users in 70 countries. Since 2019 it has launched 5,604 satellites in line with statistics compiled by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer on the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who maintains an area flight database. As of Dec. 20, 5,226 satellites remain in orbit and 5,191 look like working normally.