SpaceX to launch 22 Starlink internet satellites from Florida this evening (Image Credit: Space.com)
SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast this evening (Oct. 26).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a four-hour window that opens at 5:47 p.m. EDT (2147 GMT).
SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about 5 minutes before liftoff.
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff. It will touch down on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions,” which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It will be the 19th launch and landing for this particular booster, and its 15th Starlink mission overall, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will haul the Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they’ll be deployed about 64 minutes after liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
Starlink launches are coming fast and furious these days: SpaceX has launched 100 Falcon 9 missions so far in 2024, and 66 of them have been Starlink missions.
The Starlink megaconstellation, which beams internet service to customers around the world, currently consists of more than 6,400 active satellites, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.