Update at 11PM EST: SpaceX is now targeting 12:42 AM ET (0424 GMT) for tonight’s launch of a new batch of Starlink satellites from Florida.
a SpaceX The Falcon 9 rocket will fly for the 12th time tonight (March 18), and you can watch the historic event live.
the two stages Falcon 9 The 53rd launch of SpaceX is scheduled for starlink Internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida tonight in Liftoff 12:42 a.m. EDT (0442 GMT) on March 19. You can watch it live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly through the company. Coverage is expected to begin 15 minutes before takeoff.
It will be the 12th launch of this first stage of the Falcon 9, setting a new record for the reuse of a SpaceX rocket. The booster previously lifted the CSA’s RADARSAT Constellation mission in June 2019; SpaceX’s first manned flight, The Experimental mission 2 to the International Space Station, in May 2020; SiriusXM’s SXM-7 satellite in December 2020; and eight other Starlink missions, SpaceX representatives wrote in a Job description.
Related: Starlink megaconstellation from SpaceX is launched in pictures
The first stage will attempt to make its twelfth landing, too: SpaceX aims to bring it down aboard the Just Read The Instructions drone, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
SpaceX has launched 2,282 Starlink satellites so far, 2,033 of which are currently in operation, According to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.
Constellation Broadband serves customers all over the world, including Ukraine, whose communications infrastructure has been damaged by the invasion of Russian forces. Owns SpaceX Send Starlink stations and other equipment to the war-torn nation, a move that was so Applauded by grateful Ukrainian government officials.
The Starlink network hasn’t finished growing, as tonight’s launch shows. SpaceX wants to get much bigger, in fact: The company has permission to launch 12,000 Starlink satellites, and has applied for approval from an international regulator to launch an additional 30,000 satellites on top of that.
Mike Wall is the author of “AbroadBook (Great Grand Publishing House, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrials. Follow him on Twitter Tweet embed. Follow us on Twitter Tweet embed or on Facebook.
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