Elon Musk is preparing to launch 24 more satellites of his satellite internet service Starlink into orbit with a Falcon 9 rocket.
SpaceX plans to launch 24 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast today.
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is planned to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Center in a period of approximately four hours starting at 19:07 GMT.
SpaceX will broadcast the launch, which will begin approximately five minutes before the launch, as a webcast on X.
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9 first stage will return to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, landing on a drone ship called “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean.
This will be the 20th launch and landing for the booster, according to SpaceX’s mission description.
Of the 19 launches to date, 15 have been Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage will go on to carry 24 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), placing them into orbit about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Today’s launch will be SpaceX’s seventh launch in the past week and the sixth to be flown by a Falcon 9 during that time.
Another recent liftoff was the sixth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket.
That mission, which concluded on November 19, was successful; Both stages of the giant vehicle made their ocean landings as planned.
