SpaceX plans to launch one other batch of its Starlink broadband satellites to orbit early Friday morning (May 19), and you may watch the motion live.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 22 next-generation Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday at 12:41 a.m. EDT (0441 GMT).
Watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the corporate (opens in latest tab). Coverage is predicted to start about five minutes before launch.
Related: Starlink satellite train: Learn how to see it within the night sky
If all goes in response to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff. It is going to touch down on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will probably be stationed within the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
It is going to be the fifth launch and landing for this particular booster, SpaceX said in a mission description (opens in latest tab).
The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, will proceed carrying the 22 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. They’re scheduled to be deployed about 65 minutes after launch.
Starlink is SpaceX’s huge and ever-growing constellation of broadband spacecraft. The country has already launched greater than 4,400 Starlink satellites (opens in latest tab) but could find yourself deploying nearly 10 times that many, if the required approvals come through.
The satellites going up Friday morning are “V2 minis,” that are larger and more capable than the first-generation Starlink craft that make up the overwhelming majority of the megaconstellation. The complete-size Starlink V2 satellites, which will probably be even greater and more powerful, will probably be launched by SpaceX’s huge Starship rocket, which continues to be in development.
Friday’s launch will probably be the thirtieth Falcon 9 flight of the yr and the thirty second orbital mission overall for SpaceX in 2023. (Elon Musk’s company has also launched its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket twice this yr.)
The Starlink mission might be the primary of a Friday doubleheader for SpaceX. The corporate is apparently targeting (opens in latest tab) in a while Friday morning for a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. That mission will loft broadband satellites for OneWeb and a communications satellite for Iridium.
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