SpaceX plans to launch 23 extra of its Starlink web satellites to orbit at the moment (Jan. 7).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to elevate off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Area Pressure Station at the moment throughout a four-hour window that opens at 4 p.m. EST (2100 GMT).
You possibly can watch the motion reside by way of SpaceX’s account on X. Protection will start about 5 minutes earlier than the launch window opens.
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If all goes in response to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come again to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, touching down on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which might be stationed within the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
It is going to be the sixteenth launch and touchdown for this specific booster, in response to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage, in the meantime, will proceed hauling the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, the place they are going to be deployed about 65.5 minutes after liftoff.
This would be the third orbital launch of 2024 for SpaceX. And there might be many extra to come back; SpaceX representatives have stated the corporate goals to launch 144 missions this 12 months, which might smash its document of 98, set in 2023.
There’s extra spaceflight motion on faucet for tonight — properly, early Monday morning (Jan. 8). United Launch Alliance intends to launch its Vulcan Centaur rocket for the primary time ever Monday at 2:18 a.m. EST (0718 GMT), sending the personal Peregrine lander towards the moon. You possibly can watch that right here at Area.com, courtesy of NASA TV.