SpaceX is set to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida’s Space Coast on Saturday (Feb. 8).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday, during a nearly four-hour window that opens at 1:23 p.m. EST (1823 GMT).
SpaceX will stream the action live via its X account beginning about five minutes before launch.
The Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, if all goes according to plan. It will touch down in the Atlantic Ocean on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.”
It will be the 17th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Twelve of its 16 flights to date have been Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will carry the 21 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them there about 65 minutes after liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky
SpaceX has now launched 16 Falcon 9 missions in 2025, 10 of them Starlink flights.
The company also has one other launch under its belt — the Jan. 16 test flight of its Starship megarocket, which was a partial success. Starship’s Super Heavy first stage came back to the launch tower for a “chopsticks” catch as planned, but the vehicle’s upper stage exploded about 8.5 minutes after launch, apparently because of a propellant leak.
Article by:Source: mwall@space.com (Mike Wall)
