The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch on its record 16th mission Saturday night (July 15), and you can watch the action live.
A Falcon 9 atop 54 of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites is scheduled to lift off from Space Force Station Cape Canaveral in Florida on Saturday in 11:50 PM EST (03:50 GMT on July 16). During a live webcast, the company said SpaceX attempted to launch the mission early Friday, but was forced to give up at the last minute.
You can view it here on SpaceX.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly through the company. Covering should begin approximately five minutes before launch.
Related: The launch of SpaceX’s massive Starlink spacecraft in pictures
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched a group of the company’s Starlink broadband satellites on March 3, 2023. (Image credit: SpaceX)
If all goes as planned, the Falcon 9 first stage will return to Earth for a vertical descent about 8.5 minutes after launch aboard the SpaceX A Shortfall of Gravitas drone.
This will be the 16th launch and landing of this booster, according to A SpaceX mission description. This will equal the record set last Sunday (July 9) by another Falcon 9 first stage flying on another Starlink mission.
The non-reusable Falcon 9 upper stage will continue to carry all 54 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, eventually deploying them about 66 minutes after liftoff.
The Starlink launch is part of a busy few days of spaceflight. On Friday morning (July 14), for example, India launched its Chandrayaan 3 robotic mission, which aims to make the country’s first soft landing on the moon next month.
And on Sunday evening (July 16), the Rocket Lab Electron launch vehicle will send seven small satellites skyward from the company’s site in New Zealand. Rocket Lab is working on making the Electron first stage reusable, and Sunday’s mission, called “Baby Come Back,” includes the planned recovery of a booster from the Pacific Ocean.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 6:10 PM ET on July 14th with a new launch time of 11:50 PM ET on July 15th.
