SpaceX is preparing to launch its final mission of the year.
one Falcon 9 Rockets summit 21 Starlink The broadband networking satellites, including 13 with direct-to-cell capability, will launch on Tuesday (December 31) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The one-hour launch window opens at 12:34 a.m. ET (0534 GMT).
A live webcast of Tuesday’s mission will begin approximately five minutes before liftoff, and you can Watch it on the SpaceX website and on social media network.
This launch will be Space Exploration Technologies CorporationFalcon will fly its 134th mission in 2024, 38 more than the company’s total last year. Of the 134 launches this year, 89 are dedicated to expanding the Starlink global network (including this upcoming flight).
Tuesday’s launch was SpaceX’s third Falcon 9 launch in three days, after Starlink mission launches from California and a Astranis launches four satellites The launch was from the company’s other Florida launch pad at the Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral.
If all goes according to plan, the first stage of the Falcon 9 on this mission will return to Earth about 8 minutes after liftoff and land on the “Just Read the instructions” drone stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue to tow 21 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit for deployment.
According to one official, this will be the 16th flight for this particular first-stage booster Mission statement Posted to the SpaceX website. It has previously been used for launches on Crew-6, BlueBird-1, USSF-124, mPOWER-B and 11 other Starlink missions.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever deployed, and as Tuesday’s launch proved, it’s growing. There are currently over 6,850 active Starlink spacecraft, according to Satellite tracker and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.
This article was updated on December 29 to reflect the change in publication date from December 30 to December 31.