SpaceX is set to launch more of its internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast today (Jan. 8).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a nearly four-hour launch window opening at 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 GMT).
SpaceX will broadcast the launch live beginning about five minutes prior to the liftoff both on its website and on the X social media network.
Should all go to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff. It will touch down on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It will be the third launch and landing for this particular booster, which has flown one previous Starlink mission, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage will haul the Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they will be deployed about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever deployed — and it’s continuously growing, as today’s planned launch demonstrates. There are currently more than 6,850 active Starlink spacecraft in LEO, according to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
