SpaceX is all set to launch 22 more of its Starlink internet satellites from California in the early hours of Monday morning (Nov. 20).
The scheduled liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base is set for a four-hour window that opens at 1:33 a.m. EST (0633 GMT; 10:33 p.m. on Nov. 19 local California time).
To watch the launch live, you can head over to SpaceX’s Twitter account. Coverage will kick off about five minutes before liftoff.
Related: Interested in catching a glimpse of the Starlink satellite train in the night sky? Learn how to see and track it!
Assuming everything goes as planned, the Falcon 9’s first stage is expected to return to Earth for a vertical landing about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
This rocket’s first stage will be making its 15th launch and landing, per a SpaceX mission description. This includes nine Starlink launches and the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, a NASA mission that involved successfully crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid in September 2022.
The 22 Starlink satellites will be deployed from the Falcon 9’s upper stage into low Earth orbit approximately 62.5 minutes after liftoff.
This launch will mark the conclusion of a very busy weekend for SpaceX, which also launched 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday night (Nov. 17).
Moreover, SpaceX conducted the second-ever test flight of Starship, their next-generation system designed for moon and Mars missions. While the initial flight went smoothly, reaching a maximum altitude of about 91 miles (148 kilometers), the mission came to an abrupt halt about eight minutes after liftoff due to a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” – SpaceX’s term for an explosion.
The Monday morning launch was initially planned for Sunday but was postponed after propellant loading had already started.
