A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch 23 Starlink internet satellites into orbit from Florida tonight (Oct. 21) in the company’s second mission of the day.
The Falcon 9 is scheduled for liftoff from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:17 p.m. EDT (0217 GMT on Oct. 22). In case of delay, there are five backup opportunities available between 11:07 p.m. EDT and 2:15 a.m. EDT (0307 to 0515 GMT), as stated in the company mission description.
SpaceX will be live streaming the launch on its account on X (formerly known as Twitter), with coverage starting approximately five minutes before liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
The Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth for a vertical landing tonight, landing on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 8.5 minutes after launch.
According to the mission description, this will be the fourth flight for the first stage of this rocket.
The 23 Starlink satellites are planned to be deployed from the Falcon 9’s upper stage about 65.5 minutes after liftoff.
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If all goes as planned, this launch will be SpaceX’s second of the day. Earlier this morning, the company launched 21 Starlink satellites from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Starlink is a megaconstellation in low Earth orbit operated by SpaceX, providing global internet service. Currently, there are nearly 4,900 operational Starlink satellites, with more being added regularly.
