A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Florida on March 30, 2024.
(Image credit: Future)
SpaceX is set to launch yet another batch of its internet satellites to orbit early this morning (April 5).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today during an hourlong window that opens at 5:12 a.m. EDT (0912 GMT).
SpaceX will webcast the launch 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
The Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth safely today, if all goes according to plan. It will make a vertical landing about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It will be the 14th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage will haul the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.
This morning’s launch will be the 33rd orbital mission of the year already for SpaceX, and the 22nd of 2024 devoted to building out the giant Starlink megaconstellation.
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The liftoff will also be the first leg of a Starlink doubleheader, if all goes according to plan: SpaceX plans to launch 21 more of the internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California tonight during a four-hour window that opens at 10:31 p.m. EDT (0231 GMT on April 6).
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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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