Updated at 8:50 PM EST: SpaceX is targeting now 11:12 PM EDT (0312 GMT September 9) to launch 22 Starlink Internet satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida after waving a target at 7:56 p.m. EDT. Another backup time for 11:30 PM EST (0330 GMT) Also available if required.
SpaceX plans to launch 22 more Starlink internet satellites into low Earth orbit tonight (September 8), and you can watch the event live.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch the Starlink spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida tonight (September 8) at 11:12 PM EDT (0312 GMT).
Watch it live here on Space.com, for free from SpaceX, or live across the company. Coverage is expected to begin about five minutes before take-off. SpaceX initially targeted a launch date of 7:56 PM EST, but later pushed toward its window. Another opportunity is available at 11:30 PM EST (0330 GMT), if necessary.
Related: Starlink space train: How to see and track it in the night sky
The Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage will return to Earth for landing about 8.5 minutes after liftoff tonight, if all goes according to plan. It will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
This will be the seventh launch and landing of this particular booster, according to A SpaceX mission description.
The 22 Starlink satellites are scheduled to deploy from the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage about 65 minutes after launch.
Tonight’s launch will be the 63rd of 2023 for SpaceX, extending the company’s record by one year. The previous number, 61, was set in 2022.
More than half of this year’s launches are dedicated to building Starlink, SpaceX’s massive internet constellation, which currently consists of more than 4,600 operational satellites.
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