SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites from Florida tonight

SpaceX plans to launch another batch of its broadband satellites to orbit from Florida tonight (Jan. 13). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station tonight during a nearly 3.5 hour long window that opens at 8:10 p.m. EST (0110 GMT on Jan.

14). You can watch the launch via SpaceX 's account on X, starting about five minutes before the window opens. Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky The Falcon 9's first stage will come back to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, if all goes according to plan.

It will land on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. It will be the 12th launch and landing for this booster, according to a SpaceX mission description . Among its previous flights are seven other Starlink missions. The Falcon 9's upper stage will continue hauling the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit tonight.

They'll be deployed there about 64.5 minutes after liftoff. — SpaceX rocket launches Starlink satellites on record breaking 17th flight (video) — 8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflight — SpaceX Starlink satellites had to make 25,000 collision avoidance maneuvers in just 6 months — and it will only get worse Tonight's mission will be the first half of a Starlink doubleheader, if all goes according to plan.

SpaceX also aims to launch a Starlink batch from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base early Sunday morning (Jan. 14). That mission is scheduled to lift off at 3:59 a.m. EST (0859 GMT).