SpaceX may hold a launch doubleheader on Wednesday night (December 13).
On Wednesday, the company announced that it would arrive at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida during a nearly four-hour window starting at 11:07 p.m. ET (4:07 a.m. Japan time). The aim is to launch 23 more Starlink Internet satellites from the base using Falcon 9 rockets. . You can watch live from about 5 minutes before the window opens via the SpaceX account on X (formerly Twitter).
SpaceX may have another mission planned for Wednesday. The Falcon Heavy could also launch the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center next door to Cape Canaveral on the same day.
The X-37B launch and Starlink launch were originally scheduled for Monday night (December 11), but SpaceX withdrew from both launches. The company cited ground issues with Falcon Heavy Scrub and strong winds at ground level as causes for Starlink’s delays after Tuesday’s launch attempt.
Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky
If all goes as planned for Wednesday’s Starlink mission, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth for a vertical landing about eight and a half minutes after liftoff. Landing on the unmanned ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” deployed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
SpaceX said this will be the booster’s third launch and landing. Mission description. His other two missions were Crew-7 and CRS-29, which sent astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station for NASA, respectively.
Meanwhile, 23 Starlink satellites are scheduled to deploy from the Falcon 9 upper stage into low Earth orbit approximately 65.5 minutes after liftoff.
Starlink is SpaceX’s Internet megaconstellation, currently consisting of: More than 5,000 spacecraft in operation.
This huge network has grown significantly over the past year. SpaceX has launched more than 90 orbital missions so far in 2023, most of which have been dedicated to building the Starlink constellation.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated twice. First came news of X-37B and Starlink launch delays at 8:40 p.m. ET on Dec. 11, then news of Starlink scrubbing due to wind at 12:45 a.m. ET on Dec. 13. There was news.