SpaceX is ready to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with one other 20 Starlink satellites from California Wednesday evening.
The Starlink Sep 11 mission will characteristic 13 satellites that embody Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff from Area Launch Complicated 4 East (SLC-4E) from Vandenberg Area Pressure Base is ready for 8:21 p.m. PST (11:21 p.m. EST, 0421 UTC).
Spaceflight Now can have stay protection starting about half-hour previous to launch.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail quantity B1082 within the SpaceX fleet, will launch for an eighth time. It beforehand launched USSF-62, OneWeb 4 and 5 Starlink missions.
Slightly greater than eight minutes after liftoff, B1082 will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Nonetheless Love You.’ If profitable, this would be the 108th touchdown on OCISLY and the 367th booster touchdown to this point.
Following a pair of launches on Monday, Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX’s vp of launch, mentioned the corporate has 26 extra launches on its manifest earlier than the tip of the 12 months. The Starlink Sep 11 mission is ready to be adopted by the Starlink 6-68 mission, which can launch as quickly as roughly six hours later.
Glad Veterans Day Double Header!!! Thanks to all who’ve served.
26 launches stay with 50 days to go in 2024. #grit https://t.co/idjwhD7mFL
— Kiko Dontchev (@TurkeyBeaver) November 11, 2024
SpaceX can also be near finishing its main, preliminary Direct to Cell constellation throughout the bigger Starlink panorama. Following the Starlink Sep 11 mission, Ben Longmier, SpaceX’s senior director of satellite tv for pc engineering, mentioned there can be three extra launches to spherical out the constellation.
That may quantity to 39 extra DTC Starlink satellites, assuming SpaceX continues to launch them in batches of 13.
