Update March 20, 1:13 PM EDT (1713 UTC): SpaceX adjusted the T-0 liftoff time.
SpaceX will launch its 30th batch of Starlink satellites this year with a Friday afternoon launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled for 2:51:49 p.m. PDT (5:51:49 p.m. EDT/2151:49 UTC). Upon leaving the launch pad the rocket will fly on a southern trajectory. The Starlink 17-15 mission is carrying 25 Starlink V2 mini-optimized satellites into low Earth orbit.
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 B1100. This will be its fourth launch after earlier flying the NROL-105 mission and two batches of Starlink satellites.
A little more than eight minutes after takeoff, the B1100 will aim for a landing on ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, a drone ship deployed in the Pacific Ocean. If successful, it will be the 185th landing on this spacecraft and the 589th booster landing ever for SpaceX.
