CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE — With the recent excitement of the first moon landing by a commercial company, space fans will have something else to look forward to as SpaceX plans to launch a batch of Starlink satellites late Saturday afternoon.

What You Need To Know

  • The four-hour launch window opens at 4:59 p.m. ET

  • The liftoff will happen at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is expected to send up the Starlink 6-39 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated the company.

The four-hour launch window opens at 4:59 p.m. ET, which means that if it does not go up on time, it has until 8:57 p.m. ET to do so.

The 45th Weather Squadron has given about a 95% favorable forecast for the launch, with the only concern being liftoff winds.

If the launch does not go up on time, the next attempt will be on Sunday at 4:34 p.m. ET.

Going up all the way

This will be first-stage booster B1069’s 13th flight, so hopefully it will not be unlucky. Its 12 successful launches are:

After the first-stage separation, it is expected to land in the Atlantic Ocean on SpaceX’s droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.

About the mission

Heading to low-Earth orbit, the 24 Starlink satellites are expected to join the thousands of other ones that are already there.

These satellites provide internet service, stated the SpaceX-owned company Starlink.

Before the launch, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ Dr. Jonathan McDowell recorded the following information about the Starlink satellites.

  • 5,480 are in orbit
  • 5,442 in working order
  • 4,762 are in operational orbit

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