SpaceX is preparing to launch its next Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Thursday morning, a day before the company’s stock becomes publicly available on the Nasdaq.
The Starlink 17-44 mission will add 24 other broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit. There are currently more than 10,500 Starlink satellites in orbit.
The liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled for 8:05:59 a.m. PDT (11:05:59 a.m. EDT / 1505:59 UTC). Upon leaving the pad the rocket will fly on a south-south-westerly trajectory.
Spaceflight Now’s live coverage will begin approximately 30 minutes before liftoff.
SpaceX will launch the mission using a Falcon 9 first stage booster with tail number B1071. This will be its 34th flight, after five launches for the National Reconnaissance Office, five SpaceX rideshare missions, Germany’s SARah-1, NASA’s SWOT, CAS500-2 for South Korea and 20 previous Starlink delivery flights.
The first stage booster will aim for landing on ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, a SpaceX drone ship deployed in the Pacific Ocean about eight and a half minutes after launch. If successful, it will be the 202nd landing on this spacecraft and the 622nd booster landing for SpaceX.
