Live coverage: SpaceX Falcon 9 to launch 22 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX is getting ready for its second Falcon 9 mission of the day. Following the successful launch of a four-member crew to the International Space Station early Saturday, it will send 22 second-generation Starlink satellites into orbit at 9:05 p.m. EDT (0105 UTC).

With successful mission on Saturday, more than 5,000 Starlink satellites will have reached orbit. According to statistics compiled by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who maintains a space flight database, to date SpaceX has launched a total of 4,983 Starlinks.

After lifting off from Space Launch Complex 40, the Falcon 9 will soar south-east, targeting an orbit inclined at 43 degrees to the equator. After separating from the second stage about two and a half minutes into flight, the first stage booster will head downrange for a landing on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions, which will be stationed in the Atlantic east of the Bahamas.

A Falcon 9 stands ready for launch at Cape Canaveral on the Starlink 6-11 mission. Image: Spaceflight Now.

Two burns of the second stage are required to place the satellites into the required circular orbit. Separation of the 22 satellites will occur about one hour, five minutes after launch.

The first stage booster, tailnumber B1080, is making its third mission. It’s inaugural flight was to launch the private Axiom 2 crew to the International Space Station earlier this year on May 21. Most recently, it lifted off on July 1 with the European Space Agency’s Euclid space telescope.

It will be the 14th launch of the so-called V2 mini satellites which are larger and have four times the bandwidth of the previous models. The full-sized V2 Starlink satellites are due to be launched by SpaceX’s fully-reusable Starship vehicle, but the delayed debut of Starship led SpaceX to create a condensed version of the satellites so they could be launched on Falcon 9.

In early May, SpaceX announced it had more than 1.5 million subscribers to Starlink. The company’s internet service is available in more than 60 countries.