SpaceX will launch 20 Starlink internet satellites from California early Thursday morning (Nov. 7).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft — 13 of which have direct-to-cell capability — is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday, during a three-hour window that opens at 2:02 a.m. EST (0602 GMT; 11:02 p.m. Nov. 6 local time).
SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff.
If all goes according to plan on Thursday morning, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical touchdown about eight minutes after liftoff on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You,” which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
It will be the 11th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will continue its trek to low Earth orbit (LEO), ultimately deploying the 20 Starlink satellites there about 60 minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX has already launched more than 100 Falcon 9 missions in 2024, about two-thirds of which have been dedicated to building out the Starlink network.
The huge and ever-growing constellation currently consists of about 6,500 active spacecraft, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.
Editor’s note: This launch was originally supposed to the second half of a Starlink doubleheader, but SpaceX canceled a planned Wednesday evening liftoff. This story was updated at 7:50 p.m. ET on Nov. 6 to reflect this change.
