SpaceX plans to launch another Starlink internet satellite into orbit tonight (August 26), and you can catch the event live.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Saturday at 9:05 p.m. EDT (0105 GMT Aug. 27). SpaceX’s launch will bring the total number of Starlink satellites launched to date to more than 5,000, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell. (Victim It currently stands at 4,983.)
You can watch liftoff live here on Space.com, free from SpaceX, or in person across the company. Coverage is expected to begin about five minutes before launch.
Related: Starlink space train: How to see and track it in the night sky
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 56 Starlink satellites on March 29, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)
The first stage of the Falcon 9 will return to Earth on Saturday, if all goes according to plan: It will land on a SpaceX drone ship, just read the instructions about 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
This will be the third launch and landing of this particular booster, according to A SpaceX mission description.
The upper stage of Falcon 9 will continue to fly, eventually deploying 22 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) approximately 65 minutes after launch.
Starlink’s launch on Saturday will follow another SpaceX mission from Florida’s Space Coast: The company aims to launch a Crew-7 mission of four astronauts to the International Space Station from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Saturday morning. Crew-7 was scheduled to lift off from Earth early Friday (August 25), but SpaceX delayed it 24 hours for further analysis.
Five thousand Starlink satellites is a sure thing, but that number is likely to grow in the future. SpaceX has permission to deploy 12,000 Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit, and has applied for permission to deploy another 30,000 spacecraft.
Editors Note: This story has been updated with a new launch date of August 26th. SpaceX is targeting August 25 for the Starlink launch.
2023-08-26 19:11:06
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