Watch SpaceX launch 52 more Starlink satellites, land rocket tonight

October 3, 2022

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SpaceX will launch 52 extra Starlink web satellites to orbit tonight (Oct. 3), and you’ll watch the liftoff reside.

The Starlink satellites are scheduled to carry off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg House Power Base tonight at 7:56 p.m. EDT (2356 GMT; 4:56 p.m. native California time). You may watch it reside right here at House.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly via the company (opens in new tab).

If all goes in accordance with plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come again to Earth and make a pinpoint touchdown 8.5 minutes after launch on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Nonetheless Love You, which will likely be stationed within the Pacific Ocean.

Associated: SpaceX’s Starlink megaconstellation launches in photos

It is going to be the fifth liftoff and touchdown for this specific booster, according to a SpaceX mission description (opens in new tab). The rocket beforehand helped launch the NROL-85 and NROL-87 missions for the U.S. Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace, the Sarah-1 radar satellite for the German authorities, and one other Starlink batch.

Whereas the Falcon 9 first stage is coming in for a touchdown tonight, the higher stage will proceed powering its technique to orbit. The 52 Starlink satellites are scheduled to be deployed about 62 minutes after liftoff.

Starlink is SpaceX’s ever-growing megaconstellation that beams web service to prospects all over the world. SpaceX has already lofted practically 3,400 Starlink satellites thus far and plans to orbit many extra: The corporate has permission to launch 12,000 of the spacecraft and has utilized for permission for as much as 30,000 on prime of that.

Tonight’s launch will likely be SpaceX’s forty fourth orbital mission of 2022. That tally will proceed to extend this week; Elon Musk’s firm plans to launch the Crew-5 astronaut mission for NASA on Wednesday (Oct. 5) and two business communications satellites on Thursday (Oct. 6).

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. Observe him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or on Facebook (opens in new tab).