SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral – Space Flight Now

On By Littum

SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral – Space Flight Now
File: A stack of SpaceX Starlink satellites, which included the first six with Direct to Cell capabilities. The batch was launched on the Starlink 7-9 mission, which lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on January 2, 2024. Image: SpaceX

Update 04:04 EST (0904 UTC): SpaceX pushed back the mission’s launch time.

SpaceX is preparing to bolster the Direct to Cell component of its Starlink constellation with a Falcon 9 launch in the wee hours of Monday morning.

After a launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base late Friday night, SpaceX will send 23 more Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. Departure of the Starlink 12-1 mission from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set for 5:02 AM EST (1002 UTC).

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning approximately one hour before departure.



The forecast for the launch is as good as it gets. The 45th Weather Squadron expects no weather restrictions and a greater than 95 percent chance of good conditions at takeoff.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1080 in the SpaceX fleet, will launch for the 13th time. It has previously supported the launches of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid, four missions to the International Space Station (Axiom-2, Axiom-3, NG-21 and CRS-30), SES 24 and six previous Starlink missions.

Assuming a launch at the announced time, the B1080 will break SpaceX’s previous record for the turnaround of a first stage booster by nearly a week. A liftoff at 4:35 am EST (0935 UTC) would mean a turnaround of 13 days 12 hours 7 minutes and 50 seconds.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1080 will land on the SpaceX drone ship, “Just read the instructions.” If successful, this will mark the 99th booster landing on JRTI and the 374th booster landing to date.

Direct to Cell coming soon

The rollout of the Direct to Cell portion of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation has been a big story for the company throughout 2024. After being announced in August 2022, along with a partnership with T-Mobile, SpaceX has continuously launched DTC Starlink satellites throughout the year.

The company’s first launch of the year, Starlink 7-9 on January 2, 2024, carried six DTC Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Since then, there have been 26 other launches with these satellites on board, including Starlink 9-3, which failed to reach orbit due to an upper stage anomaly.

After the launch of Starlink 9-13 late Friday night, Ben Longmier, SpaceX’s senior director of satellite technology, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that there was “one launch left for Direct to Cell commercial orbital shell completion.”

But while the majority of DTC Starlink missions are launched at a 53-degree inclination, the Starlink 12-1 mission launches at a 43-degree inclination. It was not immediately clear whether Monday’s launch would allow SpaceX to reach the benchmark Longmier mentioned.

In a post on X on October 30, he said that even when this first shell is complete, it would not be the end of DTC Starlink launches.

“We will continue to launch and improve the service thereafter to improve coverage and latency for our partner telcos around the world,” Longmier said in a post on X.

As for what consumers should expect with an initial rollout of the DTC features, Longmier responded to a user on X, saying it will include “normal texting,” adding “data later in 2025.”

A diagram of the Starlink direct-to-cell service. Graphics: SpaceX