Update for Oct. 4: SpaceX pulled out of a planned plan on October 1. 3 launch of 52 Starlink satellites to allow more time for pre-launch payments, the company announced via Twitter (opens in a new tab) Monday night. The mission will now launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base today (October 4) at 7:48 pm EDT (4:48 pm PDT/2348 GMT)unless the company’s Crew-5 astronaut mission lifts off as planned on Wednesday (Oct. 5); in that case, SpaceX Back out of Starlink launch once again (opens in a new tab) to focus on Crew-5.
SpaceX is launching 52 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit tonight (October 3), and you can watch the liftoff live.
the star link satellites are scheduled to take off on top of a falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base tonight at 7:56 pm EDT (2356 GMT; 4:56 pm California local time). You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of spacexeither directly through the company (opens in a new tab).
If all goes according to plan, the first stage of the Falcon 9 will return to Earth and make a precise landing 8.5 minutes after launch on SpaceX’s Of Course I Still Love You drone, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean. .
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink mega-constellation launches in photos
It will be the fifth takeoff and landing of this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description (opens in a new tab). The rocket previously helped launch the NROL-85 and NROL-87 missions for the US National Reconnaissance Office, the Sarah-1 radar satellite for the German government and another batch of Starlink.
As the Falcon 9 first stage approaches for landing tonight, the upper stage will continue to power its way toward orbit. The 52 Starlink satellites are scheduled to deploy about 62 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is SpaceX’s ever-growing mega-constellation that delivers Internet services to customers around the world. SpaceX has already launched nearly 3,400 Starlink satellites to date and plans to put many more into orbit: The company has permission to launch 12,000 of the spacecraft and has applied for permission for up to 30,000 on top of that.
Tonight’s launch will be SpaceX’s 44th orbital mission of 2022. That count will continue to rise this week; Elon Musk’s company plans to launch the Crew-5 astronaut mission for NASA on Wednesday (Oct. 5) and two commercial communications satellites on Thursday (Oct. 6).
Mike Wall is the author of “out there (opens in a new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; Illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @migueldwall (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacepointcom (opens in a new tab) or in Facebook (opens in a new tab).
