Current:Home > MarketsSpaceX to launch 22 Starlink satellites today. How to watch the Falcon 9 liftoff. -Streamline Finance
SpaceX to launch 22 Starlink satellites today. How to watch the Falcon 9 liftoff.
View
Date:2025-04-18 21:15:27
Look up, Florida.
SpaceX teams in the Sunshine State are on track to launch a Falcon 9 rocket with another batch of the company's Starlink internet satellites on Friday night.
Liftoff of the 230-foot rocket from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is slated for 6:39 p.m. EDT, with the launch window last until 10:15 p.m.
If liftoff goes as planned it will mark the Space Coast's 52nd launch this year.
Live Space Team launch coverage updates will be posted here at Florida Today, part of the USA TODAY Network, starting 90 minutes before the launch window opens.
SpaceX's broadcast will be hosted on X about five minutes before liftoff, and the viewing will be posted at the top of this page.
When is the SpaceX rocket launch?
The first opportunity to launch the Starlink 6-19 mission is at 6:39 p.m. EDT Friday night, during a nearly four-hour launch window with three additional opportunities through 10:15 p.m.
Is New York City sinking?NASA finds metropolitan area slowly submerging
What's the weather forecast for today's SpaceX rocket launch?
Weather conditions for the Starlink 6-19 mission, according to the Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, are expected to be poor. Forecasters last projected a 40% chance of "go" conditions through the launch window.
Besides a primary concern of clouds and rain associated with thunderstorms, forecasters also listed the threat of lightning as a concern.
Recovery conditions for a booster landing aboard a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas were listed as "low risk."
Will a shutdown affect my flight?What to know about air travel if Congress doesn't act.
Here's what else to know about today's launch:
- Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 40 will host.
- The payload is the company's next batch of Starlink internet-beaming satellites.
- The 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket will follow a southeasterly trajectory threading between Florida and the Bahamas.
- If it launches on time, it will mark the Space Coast's 52nd launch this year.
- No local sonic booms with this mission. The 130-foot first-stage booster will target a drone ship landing about eight minutes after liftoff.
- This will mark the 10th flight of the first stage booster.
Three other launches are also slated to take place in Florida this year.
Here they are:
October 6: ULA Project Kuiper Protoflight
- Company / Agency: United Launch Alliance
- Rocket: ULA Atlas V
- Location: Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch Window: Opens at 2 p.m. EDT
- Trajectory: East
- Weather: TBD
- Landing: None; Atlas V is expendable
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space
- About: A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will launch KuiperSat-1 and 2, the first pair of prototype satellites for Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband system − a planned constellation of over 3,000 satellites that will deliver global internet service connectivity. The satellites will serve as a testbed to inform future design, deployment and operational plans ahead of a full-scale deployment beginning in 2024.
October 12: SpaceX Psyche
- Company / Agency: SpaceX for NASA
- Rocket: SpaceX Falcon Heavy
- Location: Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center
- Launch Time: 10:16 a.m. EDT
- Trajectory: East
- Weather: TBD
- Landing: Landing Zones 1 and 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space
- About: SpaceX will launch a triple-core Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with NASA's Psyche spacecraft that's designed to study a metal asteroid orbiting the sun between Mars and Jupiter.
- Notes: Rescheduled from Thursday, Oct. 5 to allow teams more time to complete technical checkouts of the spacecraft.
2023 TBD: ULA Vulcan Centaur inaugural flight
- Company / Agency: United Launch Alliance
- Rocket: ULA Vulcan Centaur
- Location: Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
- Launch Time: TBD
- Trajectory: Northeast
- Weather: TBD
- Landing: None; Vulcan is expendable
- Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space
- About: ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket, which will replace Atlas V to become the only vehicle in its fleet, will fly its inaugural mission from Cape Canaveral with Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander. The lander, selected by NASA to help advance research ahead of putting two astronauts on the surface sometime before 2030, is expected to touch down on the northern part of the moon.
veryGood! (95)
Related
- Residents in Alaska capital clean up swamped homes after an ice dam burst and unleashed a flood
- Maine doctor convicted on multiple counts of illegally distributing opioids
- Search underway for 2 teens missing in the water of New York City beach
- The Texas Rangers are frustrating LGBTQ+ advocates as the only MLB team without a Pride Night
- Family of explorer who died in the Titan sub implosion seeks $50M-plus in wrongful death lawsuit
- What Paul McCartney said about Steven Van Zandt and other 'Disciple' HBO doc revelations
- Prosecutors in classified files case to urge judge to bar Trump from inflammatory comments about FBI
- You can root for Caitlin Clark without tearing other players down
- Most popular books of the week: See what topped USA TODAY's bestselling books list
- Creditor in Shilo Sanders' bankruptcy case seeks payback, speaks out
Ranking
- Daughter of Utah death row inmate navigates complicated dance of grief and healing before execution
- Sweltering temperatures persist across the US, while floodwaters inundate the Midwest
- Q&A: What’s in the Water of Alaska’s Rusting Rivers, and What’s Climate Change Got to Do With it?
- NHRA legend John Force taken to hospital after funny car engine explodes
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- Hollister's Annual Summer Sale is Here: Get $10 Shorts, $20 Jeans & More Deals Up to 64% Off
- Mass shootings across the US mar the first weekend of summer
- Abortion access has won when it’s been on the ballot. That’s not an option for half the states
Recommendation
Former Milwaukee hotel workers charged with murder after video shows them holding down Black man
Philadelphia police officer shot by fleeing suspect is in critical condition
Car dealerships in North America revert to pens and paper after cyberattacks on software provider
Rains, cooler weather help firefighters gain ground on large wildfires in southern New Mexico
Video shows dog chewing cellphone battery pack, igniting fire in Oklahoma home
Supreme Court will take up state bans on gender-affirming care for minors
Prosecutors in classified files case to urge judge to bar Trump from inflammatory comments about FBI
Why Reggie Jackson's powerful remarks on racism still resonate today