SpaceX announces plans for next Starlink launch
SpaceX is set to send another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit this week.
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They announced plans to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Wednesday afternoon carrying 56 more Starlink satellites into low-earth orbit. It would be the second Starlink mission launched from the Space Coast in less than a week and the fourth overall in the month of March.
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Wednesday’s launch is scheduled for 4:01 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Backup launch opportunities are scheduled for the same day at 5:43 p.m. and 7:22 p.m., if needed.
Additional backup launch times have been set for Thursday, March 30 at 3:36 p.m., 5:15 p.m., and 6:57 p.m.
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Just over eight minutes after the scheduled launch time, the Falcon 9′s first stage booster will separate from the rest of the payload and return to Earth, landing on the “Just Read the Instructions” drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The first-stage booster for Wednesday’s launch is the same one that successfully launched NASA’s manned Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station in October.
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According to SpaceX, in five years, they’ve launched nearly 4,000 Starlink satellites, providing high-speed internet access to more than a million locations around the world.
A live webcast of Wednesday’s launch attempt will begin about five minus before liftoff. Channel 9 will have live coverage of the launch online and on Eyewitness News.
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