SpaceX will launch 53 extra of its Starlink web satellites and land a rocket at sea right now (Aug. 19), and you’ll watch all of it reside.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 53 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to raise off from Cape Canaveral Area Power Station in Florida right now at 3:21 pm EDT (1921 GMT). Watch it right here at Area.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or immediately through the corporate (opens in new tab). Protection will start about 5 minutes earlier than liftoff.
The motion will embrace a touchdown in addition to a liftoff: About 9 minutes into the mission, the Falcon 9‘s first stage will come again to Earth for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which can be stationed within the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
Associated: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in pictures
It will likely be the ninth launch and touchdown for this specific Falcon 9 first stage, in accordance with a SpaceX mission description (opens in new tab).
The rocket’s higher stage will proceed its manner upward, ultimately deploying the 53 satellites into low Earth orbit a bit of over quarter-hour after launch.
SpaceX has already launched greater than 3,000 spacecraft for its Starlink constellation, which beams broadband service to clients across the globe.
A lot of these satellites have gone up this yr. SpaceX has carried out 36 orbital launches in 2022 thus far, 22 of them devoted Starlink missions. That is a record-breaking launch Cadence; the corporate’s earlier mark for many orbital missions in a yr was 31, set in 2021.
Mike Wall is the writer of “Out There (opens in new tab)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a guide concerning the seek for alien life. Comply with him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Comply with us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Fb (opens in new tab).