SpaceX plans to launch one other batch of its Starlink web satellites this afternoon (Nov. 6) from Florida’s Space Coast.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a 48-minute window that opens at 6:51 p.m. EST (2251 GMT).
SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, starting about five minutes before liftoff.
If all goes to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical touchdown about eight minutes after liftoff on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions,” which will probably be stationed within the Atlantic Ocean.
It should be the third launch and landing for this particular booster, based on a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will proceed its trek skyward, ultimately deploying the 23 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is the biggest satellite constellation ever assembled, with a current population of about 6,500 energetic spacecraft.
However the megaconstellation is getting greater on a regular basis, as today’s planned liftoff shows. SpaceX has launched greater than 100 Falcon 9 flights to this point this yr, and roughly two-thirds of them have been Starlink missions.
