SpaceX to launch 22 Starlink satellites from California tonight

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink internet satellites from Florida on March 25, 2024.

SpaceX is set to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit tonight (March 28).

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California tonight during a four-hour window that opens at 10:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 p.m. local California time; 0230 GMT on March 29).

You can watch it live via SpaceX’s account on X. Coverage will begin about five minutes before the window opens.

If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical touchdown about 8.5 minutes after liftoff tonight. That landing will occur on the deck of the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.

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

The Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue hauling the 22 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO), where they will be deployed about 62 minutes after liftoff.

Tonight’s launch will be the 30th Falcon 9 flight of 2024, and the 20th dedicated to building out the Starlink megaconstellation. To date, SpaceX has lofted 6,077 Starlink satellites, 5,610 of which are currently operational, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

Those already-staggering numbers will continue to grow far into the future. SpaceX has permission to deploy 12,000 Starlink craft in LEO and has applied for approval for another 30,000 on top of that.