Watch SpaceX launch 49 Starlink internet satellites to orbit Sunday - Space.com

1 year ago 144

SpaceX plans to motorboat different acceptable of its Starlink broadband satellites to orbit connected Sunday (Jan. 29), and you tin ticker the enactment live.

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 49 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to assistance disconnected Sunday from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base astatine 11:47 a.m. EST (1647 GMT; 8:47 a.m. section California time).

Watch it unrecorded present astatine Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, oregon straight via the company (opens successful caller tab). Coverage is expected to commencement astir 5 minutes earlier launch.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches for a grounds 15th clip from NASA's Kennedy Space Center pad 39A connected Dec. 17, 2022.

If each goes according to plan, the Falcon 9's archetypal signifier volition travel backmost to Earth 8.5 minutes aft liftoff for a touchdown connected SpaceX's Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which volition beryllium stationed successful the Pacific Ocean disconnected the California coast.

It volition beryllium the seventh motorboat and landing for this peculiar booster, according to a SpaceX ngo description (opens successful caller tab).

The rocket's precocious signifier volition proceed carrying the 49 Starlink spacecraft to debased Earth orbit, deploying each of them 1 hr and 17 minutes aft launch.

SpaceX has already launched nearly 3,800 Starlink satellites (opens successful caller tab), and the immense constellation volition proceed to turn for rather immoderate time: The institution has support to loft 12,000 of the net spacecraft and has applied for support to deploy astir 30,000 much connected apical of that.

Sunday's liftoff volition beryllium the seventh of the twelvemonth already for SpaceX, and the 3rd Starlink ngo of 2023. Though it's inactive precise early, Elon Musk's institution is connected gait to interruption its single-year grounds of 61 orbital launches, which it acceptable past year.

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 Facebook (opens successful caller tab).

Join our Space Forums to support talking abstraction connected the latest missions, nighttime entity and more! And if you person a quality tip, correction oregon comment, fto america cognize at: community@space.com.

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.

Read Entire Article