SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites on Thursday afternoon (Nov. 7) from Florida’s Space Coast.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday during a four-hour window that opens at 3:13 p.m. EST (1813 GMT).
SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff.
If all goes to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical touchdown about eight minutes after liftoff on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions,” which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It will be the third launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will continue its trek skyward, ultimately deploying the 23 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever assembled, with a current population of about 6,500 active spacecraft.
But the megaconstellation is getting bigger all the time, as Thursday’s planned liftoff shows. SpaceX has launched more than 100 Falcon 9 flights so far this year, and roughly two-thirds of them have been Starlink missions.
Source: https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-launch-group-6-77
