SpaceX will launch a new batch of its Starlink satellites into orbit on Thursday (Sept. 5) after a one-day delay due to weather and you’ll be able to watch it live online. In fact, it’s the first of two SpaceX launches today.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 21 Starlink internet satellites to space from the company’s Space Launch Complex 40 pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff is now scheduled to launch at 11:33 a.m. EDT (1533 GMT). You can watch it live on SpaceX’s X account (formerly Twitter), starting about five minutes before liftoff. A second Falcon 9 rocket will launch late tonight from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California to deliver a classified NROL-113 payload to orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office. That mission will lift off at 11:20 p.m. EDT (9:20 p.m. PT/0320 Sept. 6 GMT) and will also be streamed live on X.
SpaceX initially aimed to launch the Starlink 8-11 mission, as the company calls it, on Sept. 4, but delayed it by 24 hours due to “unfavorable booster recovery weather conditions in the Atlantic.” On Thursday, the company pushed the launch time back another three hours. Included among the new Starlink satellites are 13 units with “Direct to Cell” capabilities, SpaceX said in a mission description. The company has a backup launch window at 12:31 p.m. EDT (1631 GMT) on Thursday.
SpaceX’s Starlink 8-11 mission will fly on a veteran Falcon 9 first-stage booster that is making its 15th flight with Thursday’s launch. The booster is expected to return to Earth just over eight minutes after liftoff, landing on SpaceX’s drone ship Just Read The Instructions nearby in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Falcon 9 rocket previously launched eight Starlink missions, NASA’s Crew-5 astronaut flight in March 2023, a Northrop Grumman NG-20 Cygnus cargo mission and a Dragon supply flight for NASA, two commercial satellite missions and one Space Force GPS III flight.
The Falcon 9 booster launching the NROL-113 payload is an even more accomplished veteran. It will be making its 20th flight after successfully launching 14 Starlink missions, a series of commercial satellite flights and science flights for NASA, including the agency’s DART asteroid crash mission and the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean-watching satellite, according to a mission overview.
Thursday’s launches will be the third Starlink mission and fourth overall in a week as SpaceX continues to build up its space-based megaconstellation to provide high-speed internet access around the globe and fulfill customer flights. The company launched two Starlink missions, each with 21 satellites, in just over an hour on Saturday (Aug. 31). Like today’s flight, each of those earlier missions included 13 direct-to-cell satellites, which can provide internet service directly to mobile smartphones.
All four Starlink missions come less than a week after a failed Falcon 9 booster landing at sea on Aug. 28. A Federal Aviation Administration investigation into that issue is ongoing, but SpaceX was cleared for launches while it is underway, FAA officials have said.
Source: https://www.space.com/space-starlink-satellites-8-11-mission-launch
