SpaceX will launch another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit today (May 10), and you can watch the liftoff live.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 51 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 4:09 p.m. ET (2009 GMT; 1:09 p.m. local California time).
You can watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company (opens in new tab). Coverage is expected to begin about five minutes before liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellites: Everything you need to know
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff. It will touch down on SpaceX’s Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.
It will be the third launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description (opens in new tab).
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will continue making its way to low Earth orbit, where it’s expected to deploy the 51 Starlink satellites about 17.5 minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX has already launched more than 4,300 satellites (opens in new tab) for Starlink, its broadband megaconstellation. But many more are expected to go up: The company has permission to deploy 12,000 Starlink satellites and has applied for approval to loft 30,000 more on top of that.
Today’s launch will be the 28th Falcon 9 flight of the year already. SpaceX has also launched two missions with its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket in 2023, and the company sent a fully stacked Starship — its huge, next-generation spaceflight system — skyward for the first time on April 20.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), or on Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).Â
