SpaceX launching 24 Starlink satellites from Florida today

SpaceX plans to launch 24 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast this morning (Nov. 21).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a nearly four-hour window that opens at 11:07 a.m. EST (1607 GMT).

SpaceX will webcast the launch 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 “A Shortfall of Gravitas” in the Atlantic Ocean.

It will be the 20th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Fifteen of its 19 flights to date have been Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue hauling the 24 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), deploying them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.

Today’s launch will be the seventh for SpaceX in the past week, and the sixth flown by a Falcon 9 in that span.

The other recent liftoff was the sixth-ever test flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket. That mission, which occurred on Tuesday (Nov. 19), was a success; both stages of the giant vehicle aced their ocean splashdowns as planned.

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.