SpaceX will launch yet another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites to orbit on Saturday (Sept. 24), and you can watch the liftoff live.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 52 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday at 7:32 p.m. EDT (2332 GMT). Watch it live here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company.
You’ll get to see a rocket landing, too: The Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth and attempt a pinpoint touchdown on the SpaceX “droneship” A Shortfall of Gravitas about nine minutes after liftoff. It will be the fourth liftoff and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description (opens in new tab).
Related: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos
Saturday’s launch continues the buildout of SpaceX’s Starlink internet megaconstellation, which provides internet service for people around the world. The company has already lofted more than 3,300 Starlink satellites and plans to launch thousands more.
Starting next year, SpaceX will begin launching Starlink Version 2 satellites, which will be much bigger and more capable than the current iteration. V2 spacecraft will be able to beam connectivity directly to smartphones, and will do so for T-Mobile customers via a project called “Coverage Above and Beyond,” SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk announced last month.
SpaceX plans to launch Starlink V2 batches aboard its huge, next-generation Starship vehicle, which will also take cargo and people to the moon and Mars, if all goes according to plan. Starship’s first orbital test flight is “highly likely” to occur in November, Musk said recently.
Saturday’s launch will be SpaceX’s 43rd orbital mission of 2022, adding to the company’s single-year liftoff record. SpaceX’s previous high for launches in a year was 31, achieved in 2021.
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 on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).
