Current:Home > StocksSpaceX to launch 22 Starlink satellites today. How to watch the Falcon 9 liftoff. -ValueMetric
SpaceX to launch 22 Starlink satellites today. How to watch the Falcon 9 liftoff.
Benjamin Ashford View
Date:2025-04-11 12:04:35
Look up, Florida.
SpaceX teams in the Sunshine State are on track to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of the company's Starlink internet satellites on Friday night.
Liftoff of the 230-foot rocket from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is slated for 6:39 p.m. EDT, with the launch window last until 10:15 p.m.
If liftoff goes as planned it will mark the Space Coast's 52nd launch this year.
Live Space Team launch coverage updates will be posted here at Florida Today, part of the USA TODAY Network, starting 90 minutes before the launch window opens.
SpaceX's broadcast will be hosted on X about five minutes before liftoff, and the viewing will be posted at the top of this page.
When is the SpaceX rocket launch?
The first opportunity to launch the Starlink 6-19 mission is at 6:39 p.m. EDT Friday night, during a nearly four-hour launch window with three additional opportunities through 10:15 p.m.
Is New York City sinking?NASA finds metropolitan area slowly submerging
What's the weather forecast for today's SpaceX rocket launch?
Weather conditions for the Starlink 6-19 mission, according to the Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, are expected to be poor. Forecasters last projected a 40% chance of "go" conditions through the launch window.
Besides a primary concern of clouds and rain associated with thunderstorms, forecasters also listed the threat of lightning as a concern.
Recovery conditions for a booster landing aboard a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas were listed as "low risk."
Will a shutdown affect my flight?What to know about air travel if Congress doesn't act.
Here's what else to know about today's launch:
- Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40 will host.
- The payload is the company's next batch of Starlink internet-beaming satellites.
- The 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket will follow a southeasterly trajectory threading between Florida and the Bahamas.
- If it launches on time, it will mark the Space Coast's 52nd launch this year.
- No local sonic booms with this mission. The 130-foot first-stage booster will target a drone ship landing about eight minutes after liftoff.
- This will mark the 10th flight of the first stage booster.
Three other launches are also slated to take place in Florida this year.
Here they are:
October 6: ULA Project Kuiper Protoflight
- Company / Agency: United Launch Alliance
- Rocket: ULA Atlas V
- Location: Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch Window: Opens at 2 p.m. EDT
- Trajectory: East
- Weather: TBD
- Landing: None; Atlas V is expendable
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space
- About: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch KuiperSat-1 and 2, the first pair of prototype satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband system − a planned constellation of over 3,000 satellites that will deliver global internet service connectivity. The satellites will serve as a testbed to inform future design, deployment and operational plans ahead of a full-scale deployment beginning in 2024.
October 12: SpaceX Psyche
- Company / Agency: SpaceX for NASA
- Rocket: SpaceX Falcon Heavy
- Location: Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center
- Launch Time: 10:16 a.m. EDT
- Trajectory: East
- Weather: TBD
- Landing: Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space
- About: SpaceX will launch a triple-core Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with NASA's Psyche spacecraft that's designed to study a metal asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
- Notes: Rescheduled from Thursday, Oct. 5 to allow teams more time to complete technical checkouts of the spacecraft.
2023 TBD: ULA Vulcan Centaur inaugural flight
- Company / Agency: United Launch Alliance
- Rocket: ULA Vulcan Centaur
- Location: Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch Time: TBD
- Trajectory: Northeast
- Weather: TBD
- Landing: None; Vulcan is expendable
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space
- About: ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket, which will replace Atlas V to become the only vehicle in its fleet, will fly its inaugural mission from Cape Canaveral with Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander. The lander, selected by NASA to help advance research ahead of putting two astronauts on the surface sometime before 2030, is expected to touch down on the northern part of the moon.
veryGood! (55833)
Related
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Matthew Perry Got Chandler’s Cheating Storyline Removed From Friends
- AP PHOTOS: Death, destruction and despair reigns a month into latest Israel-Gaza conflict
- AP PHOTOS: Death, destruction and despair reigns a month into latest Israel-Gaza conflict
- Tropical rains flood homes in an inland Georgia neighborhood for the second time since 2016
- Indian states vote in key test for opposition and PM Modi ahead of 2024 national election
- The spectacle of Sam Bankman-Fried's trial
- Trial date set for man accused of killing still-missing Ole Miss student
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Why Pregnant Kailyn Lowry Is “Hesitant” to Get Engaged to Elijah Scott
Ranking
- North Carolina trustees approve Bill Belichick’s deal ahead of introductory news conference
- The Supreme Court takes up a case that again tests the limits of gun rights
- Oldest black hole discovered dating back to 470 million years after the Big Bang
- Protesters calling for Gaza cease-fire block road at Tacoma port while military cargo ship docks
- Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear ready to campaign for Harris-Walz after losing out for spot on the ticket
- Local governments in West Virginia to start seeing opioid settlement money this year
- The ballot issues for Election Day 2023 with the highest stakes across U.S. voting
- California beach closed after 'aggressive shark activity'; whale washes up with bite marks
Recommendation
Immigration issues sorted, Guatemala runner Luis Grijalva can now focus solely on sports
Toyota, Ford, and Jeep among 2.1 million vehicles recalled: Check car recalls here
New Mexico revisits tax credits for electric vehicles after governor’s veto
Election might not settle Connecticut mayor’s race upended by video of ballot box stuffing
Intel's stock did something it hasn't done since 2022
Man, 23, arrested in slaying of grandmother found decapitated in California home
A fire at the Canadian High Commission in Nigeria has killed 2 workers repairing generators
Iowa to pay $10 million to siblings of adopted teen girl who died of starvation in 2017