SpaceX launching 21 Starlink satellites from Florida this morning

SpaceX plans to launch another set of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast this morning (Jan. 13).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink craft, including 13 with direct to cell capabilities, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 10:08 a.m. EST (1508 GMT).

SpaceX will webcast the action live via X this morning, beginning about five minutes before liftoff.

If all goes to plan today, the first stage will come back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, touching down in the Atlantic Ocean on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.”

It will be the 15th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Eight of its 14 flights to date have been Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue carrying the Starlink spacecraft to low Earth orbit, deploying them about 65 minutes after liftoff.

Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky

This morning’s launch will be the sixth of 2025 for SpaceX. Last year, the company launched more than 130 Falcon 9 missions, about two-thirds of them Starlink liftoffs.

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.