SpaceX plans to launch 20 more Starlink internet satellites from California early Monday (November 18).
The Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 20 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with direct cell connectivity, will launch a four-hour mission starting at 12:47 a.m. ET (4:47 p.m., 9:47 p.m. Japan time). It is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base within that time frame. local time, November 13).
SpaceX will livestream the action through its X account starting about five minutes before launch.
If everything goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth about eight minutes after takeoff due to its vertical orientation and land on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” in the Pacific Ocean. It will be.
Officials said this was the booster’s 20th launch and landing. SpaceX mission description. Of the 19 flights to date, 12 have been Starlink missions.
Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue to transport the Starlink satellite into low Earth orbit (LEO) and will be deployed approximately 62 minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX is launching more than 100 Falcon 9 missions in 2024, about two-thirds of which will be dedicated to building the Starlink network.
This mega-constellation currently consists of more than 6,600 active spacecraft. According to Created by satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, 283 of them can be connected directly to cells.
