Watch SpaceX launch 40 OneWeb internet satellites Thursday - Space.com

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SpaceX volition motorboat a large batch of net satellites for the communications institution OneWeb connected Thursday (Dec. 8), and you tin ticker the enactment live.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 40 OneWeb satellites is scheduled to assistance disconnected from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) successful Florida Thursday astatine 5:27 p.m. EST (2227 GMT).

Watch it unrecorded present astatine Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, oregon straight via the company (opens successful caller tab). Coverage is expected to statesman astir 15 minutes earlier liftoff.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches a batch of the company's Starlink net satellites to orbit connected Sept. 18, 2022.

If each goes according to plan, the Falcon 9's archetypal signifier volition travel backmost for a landing astatine Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, which is adjacent doorway to KSC, a small little than 8 minutes aft liftoff.

It volition beryllium the 4th motorboat and landing for this peculiar booster, according to a SpaceX ngo description (opens successful caller tab). It antecedently launched a SpaceX Dragon cargo ngo to the International Space Station for NASA successful December 2021, Eutelsat's Hotbird 13F spacecraft this past October, and 1 batch of SpaceX's Starlink net statellites.

The Falcon 9's precocious stage, meanwhile, volition proceed carrying the OneWeb satellites to orbit. The Falcon 9 volition deploy the spacecraft successful 3 astir adjacent sets, opening astatine 58 minutes post-launch and ending 30 minutes aft that.

OneWeb is gathering a 648-satellite broadband constellation successful debased Earth orbit, which volition vie to immoderate grade with SpaceX's Starlink. More than 460 OneWeb spacecraft person reached orbit to date, the immense bulk of them atop Russian-built Soyuz rockets operated by French institution Arianespace.

That statement fell isolated aft Russia invaded Ukraine this past February, leaving a motorboat spread for OneWeb. The institution soon filled it, inking deals with SpaceX and New Space India Limited (NSIL). (Terms of those contracts person not been disclosed.)

The archetypal liftoff nether the NSIL woody occurred connected Oct. 21, erstwhile an Indian GSLV Mark III rocket successfully lofted 36 OneWeb spacecraft. Thursday's motorboat volition beryllium SpaceX's archetypal OneWeb mission.

Thursday's liftoff had been scheduled for Tuesday (Dec. 6), but SpaceX pushed it backmost to perform much checks (opens successful caller tab) — something Elon Musk's institution has done with several of its Falcon 9 rockets recently.

Mike Wall is the writer of "Out There (opens successful caller tab)" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a publication astir the hunt for alien life. Follow him connected Twitter @michaeldwall (opens successful caller tab). Follow america connected Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens successful caller tab) or on Facebook (opens successful caller tab).

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Michael Wall is simply a Senior Space Writer with Space.com (opens successful caller tab) and joined the squad successful 2010. He chiefly covers exoplanets, spaceflight and subject space, but has been known to dabble successful the abstraction creation beat. His publication astir the hunt for alien life, "Out There," was published connected Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a subject writer, Michael worked arsenic a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. successful evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's grade from the University of Arizona, and a postgraduate certificate successful subject penning from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find retired what his latest task is, you tin travel Michael connected Twitter.

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