Forecasters predict a 60 percent chance of favorable weather for launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to carry more Starlink broadband satellites into orbit.
EDT (1819 GMT) Thursday — will add 60 more Starlink satellites to SpaceX’s ever-growing broadband network.
Like the previous Starlink launches, a 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket head northeast from Florida’s Space Coast with 1.7 million pounds of thrust from nine Merlin main engines, then shed its first stage booster about two-and-a-half minutes into the flight.
A single Merlin engine on the Falcon 9’s second stage is expected to fire two times before release of the stack of Starlink satellites in a near-circular orbit between 172 miles (278 kilometers) and 162 miles (261 kilometers), with an inclination of 53 degrees, according to pre-launch estimates.
Separation of the 60 Starlink satellites from the rocket is scheduled about 61 minutes after launch.
The mission Thursday will mark the 13th launch of Starlink satellites since SpaceX kicked off deployment of the network in May 2019.
SpaceX eventually plans to launch thousands of Starlink satellites, but the first tranche of Starlinks will number 1,440 spacecraft, according to Jonathan Hofeller, SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink and commercial sales.
Hofeller said last month that SpaceX is building six Starlink spacecraft per day, and plans to launch Starlink missions at intervals of every two to three weeks until completing the initial Starlink network of around 1,440 satellites.
SpaceX also also signaled plans to launch up to 30,000 additional Starlink satellites — beyond the 12,000 already approved — in filings with the International Telecommunication Union.
The Starlink network is one of two major development projects SpaceX is pursuing, alongside the company’s next-generation Starship super-heavy-lift rocket.
Live coverage: SpaceX rolls out Falcon 9 rocket for Starlink launch
SpaceX plans Falcon 9 launch Thursday from Kennedy Space Center
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