SpaceX will launch 20 Starlink web satellites from California early Saturday morning (Nov. 9).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft — 13 of which have direct-to-cell functionality — is scheduled to carry off from Vandenberg House Pressure Base on Saturday, throughout a four-hour window that opens at 1:16 a.m. EST (0516 GMT; 10:16 p.m. Nov. 8 native time).
SpaceX will webcast the launch stay through X, starting about 5 minutes earlier than liftoff.
If all goes in keeping with plan on Saturday morning, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come again to Earth for a vertical landing about eight minutes after liftoff on the droneship “Of Course I Nonetheless Love You,” which can be stationed within the Pacific Ocean.
Will probably be the eleventh launch and touchdown for this explicit booster, in keeping with a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage, in the meantime, will proceed its trek to low Earth orbit (LEO), finally deploying the 20 Starlink satellites there about 60 minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX has already launched greater than 100 Falcon 9 missions in 2024, about two-thirds of which have been devoted to constructing out the Starlink community.
The large and ever-growing constellation at the moment consists of about 6,500 energetic spacecraft, in keeping with astrophysicist and satellite tv for pc tracker Jonathan McDowell.
Editor’s word: This story was up to date at midnight ET on Nov. 7 with the brand new goal launch date of Nov. 9. It had been focused for Nov. 7.
