SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida's Space Coast this afternoon (Oct. 30).
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today, during a four-hour window that opens at 5:10 p.m. EDT (2110 GMT).
SpaceX will webcast the action live via its X account, starting about five minutes before liftoff.
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9's first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical touchdown about eight minutes after liftoff. It will land on the droneship "A Shortfall of Gravitas," which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It will be the 14th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9's upper stage will continue its trek skyward, deploying the 23 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) about 64 minutes after liftoff, if all goes according to plan.
SpaceX has already launched more than 100 Falcon 9 missions in 2024, about two-thirds of them devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation.
Elon Musk's company currently operates nearly 6,500 Starlink satellites in LEO, and more are going up all the time, as today's planned liftoff shows.
