SpaceX to launch 22 Starlink internet satellites from Florida this evening

A rocket launch carves an orange arc into a dark night sky in this long-exposure photo.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 20 Starlink internet satellites to orbit from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Oct. 15, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX via X)

SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast this evening (Oct. 26).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today during a four-hour window that opens at 5:47 p.m. EDT (2147 GMT).

SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about 5 minutes before liftoff.

If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9's first stage will come back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff. It will touch down on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions," which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

It will be the 19th launch and landing for this particular booster, and its 15th Starlink mission overall, according to a SpaceX mission description

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, will haul the Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO), where they'll be deployed about 64 minutes after liftoff.

Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky

Starlink launches are coming fast and furious these days: SpaceX has launched 100 Falcon 9 missions so far in 2024, and 66 of them have been Starlink missions.

The Starlink megaconstellation, which beams internet service to customers around the world, currently consists of more than 6,400 active satellites, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

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Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.