SpaceX aims to launch first Starlink satellite by 2025
Science: SpaceX is set to launch its first batch of internet satellites this year from Florida’s Space Coast today (Jan. 6). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 members of the Starlink spacecraft is targeted to take off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday, during a roughly three-hour launch window that will open at 12:21 p.m. EST (1721 GMT).
SpaceX will live stream the launch on its website and the X social media network about five minutes before launch.
If everything goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff and land on the SpaceX droneship “Just Read the Instructions” located in the Atlantic Ocean.
This will be the 17th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to the SpaceX mission description. Nine of those flights have also been Starlink missions, and one has been a Crew 5 mission with astronauts sent to the International Space Station on behalf of NASA. The Falcon 9’s upper stage is expected to carry 24 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, where they will be deployed about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever deployed — and it’s constantly growing, as Monday’s planned launch shows. There are currently more than 6,850 active Starlink spacecraft, according to satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
