October 5 update: SpaceX will now launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base Today (October 5) 7:10pm EST (4:48pm PT / 2348 GMT) after delay To allow the company to launch Crew-5 astronauts for NASA earlier in the day.
SpaceX will launch 52 Starlink Internet satellites into orbit tonight (October 4), and you can watch the liftoff live.
The starlink Satellites are scheduled to fly over A Falcon 9 A rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California Tonight, October 5 at 7:10 PM EST (2310 GMT; 4:10 PM PT). You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceXor directly through the company (Opens in a new tab).
If all goes according to plan, the first stage of Falcon 9 will return to Earth and land accurately 8.5 minutes after launch aboard SpaceX’s drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX said the launch was delayed by 24 hours to allow more time to inspect the missiles before launch.
Related: Starlink megaconstellation from SpaceX is launched in pictures
This will be the fifth take-off and landing of this particular booster, According to the description of the mission of SpaceX (Opens in a new tab). The missile previously helped launch the NROL-85 and NROL-87 missions for the US National Reconnaissance Office, the German government’s Sarah-1 radar satellite, and another set of Starlink.
As the first stage of Falcon 9 approaches to land tonight, the upper stage will continue to make its way into orbit. 52 Starlink satellites are scheduled to be deployed 62 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is a massive, growing building of SpaceX that broadcasts internet service to customers all over the world. SpaceX has already lifted nearly 3,400 Starlink satellites so far and plans to orbit much more: The company has permission to launch 12,000 spacecraft and has applied for permission for up to 30,000 satellites on top of that.
Tonight’s launch will be SpaceX’s 44th orbital mission in 2022. And that number will continue to increase this week; Elon Musk plans to launch Crew Astronauts Mission 5 NASA on Wednesday (October 5) and two commercial communications satellites on Thursday (October 6).
Mike Wall is the author of “Abroad (Opens in a new tab)Book (Great Grand Publishing House, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrials. Follow him on Twitter Tweet embed (Opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter Tweet embed (Opens in a new tab) or on Facebook (Opens in a new tab).
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