A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Florida on April 23, 2024.
(Image credit: SpaceX via X)
SpaceX is set to launch 23 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit this evening (April 28).
The Starlink spacecraft are scheduled to launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a four-hour window that opens at 5:50 p.m. EDT (2150 GMT).
SpaceX will webcast the launch live via its account on X, beginning about five minutes before the window opens.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical landing about 8.5 minutes after launch today. It will touch down on the droneship Just Read the Instructions, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It will be the 13th launch and landing for the booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Half of the rocket’s previous 12 flights were Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, is scheduled to deploy the 23 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) about 65 minutes after liftoff today.
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Today’s launch is part of a busy weekend for SpaceX. The company launched two of Europe’s Galileo navigation satellites on Saturday (April 27). The liftoff was the 20th for that Falcon 9’s first stage, tying a SpaceX reuse record.
SpaceX’s 30th robotic Dragon cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA will wrap up today as well. The company’s Dragon capsule will depart the orbiting lab at around 1:05 p.m. EDT (1705 GMT), bringing scientific samples and experiments down to Earth. You can watch the undocking live here at Space.com, courtesy of NASA.
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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
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