![](https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20231211-Falcon-9-SLC-40.jpg)
SpaceX is planning a Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Monday night, lower than three hours after the scheduled launch of a Falcon Heavy from nearby pad 39A. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 with 23 Starlink satellites is scheduled for 11:05 p.m. EST (0405 UTC).
If the doubleheader goes off as planned it might be the shortest interval between orbital launches from Cape Canaveral because the Gemini program within the Sixties. With the Falcon Heavy scheduled for launch at 8:14 p.m. EST, the Falcon 9 could follow two hours and 51 minutes later.
U.S. Space Force meteorologists on the forty fifth Weather Squadron said Sunday there was an 85-percent probability of acceptable weather for the Falcon 9 launch, with liftoff winds being the one concern.
Spaceflight Now’s live coverage of the launch will get underway about an hour before liftoff. You may as well watch 24-7 views of launch pads on the Cape in our Launch Pad Live stream.
The Falcon 9 booster for Monday’s Starlink 6-34 mission, tail number B1081, is making its third flight. It previously flew two missions for NASA, one carrying Dragon Endurance in August with a four-member crew to the International Space Station and the opposite being a Cargo Dragon on an area station resupply mission 32 days ago in November.
After lifting off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral, the Falcon 9 will head south-easterly targeting an orbit inclined 43 degrees to the Equator. It’s nine Merlin 1D engines will fire for nearly two and a half minutes before the primary stage separates from the second stage. The primary-stage booster will proceed downrange to land on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ within the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Bahamas.
The rocket’s payload fairing halves will land on parachutes a bit of further downrange from the drone ship and be scooped up by the support ship ‘Bob’, named after Crew Dragon Demo-2 astronaut Bob Behnken.
Meanwhile the only vacuum Merlin engine of the second stage will fire for about six-minutes to succeed in a parking orbit. After coasting for about 45 minutes, the second-stage engine will re-ignite for a three-second burn to refine the orbit. Deployment of the 23 V2 Mini Starlink satellites will follow at about one hour and five minutes after launch.