SpaceX will launch 23 Starlink satellites from Florida in early 25. November

On November 25, 2024By Littum

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

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft — including 12 with direct-to-smartphone capability — is scheduled to lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday during a 3.5-hour window that opens at 4:35 AM 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 and land on the drone ship “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 to tow the 23 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit; it is scheduled to deploy them there about 65 minutes after departure.

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