SpaceX is poised to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday (Dec. 8) during a roughly two-hour window that opens at 3:03 a.m. EST (0803 GMT; 12:03 a.m. local California time).
You can watch the action via SpaceX‘s account on X (formerly known as Twitter), beginning about five minutes before the opening of the launch window.
The Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical landing about 8.5 minutes after launch, if all goes according to plan. It will touch down on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You,” which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.
It will be the 13th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Six of its 12 previous flights have been Starlink missions.
The 22 Starlink satellites, meanwhile, will deploy from the Falcon 9’s upper stage into low Earth orbit about 62.5 minutes after liftoff.
Friday morning’s launch will be the 91st orbital mission of 2023 for SpaceX, extending the company’s single-year record. The previous mark, 61 launches, was set in 2022.
Credit: Space.com
