SpaceX launching 23 Starlink satellites from Florida early Nov. 25

SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast early Monday morning (Nov. 25).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft — including 12 with direct-to-smartphone capability — is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 4:35 a.m. EST (0935 GMT).

SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about five minutes before launch.

If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, touching down on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic Ocean.

It will be the 13th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Six of its 12 flights to date have been Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue hauling the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit; it’s scheduled to deploy them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.

Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever built, consisting of more than 6,600 active spacecraft, according to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.

And the megaconstellation is growing all the time, as Monday morning’s planned mission shows. SpaceX has conducted 115 Falcon 9 missions so far in 2024, and nearly 70% of them have been Starlink flights.

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.