SpaceX is launching its latest batch of satellites today (Dec. 28) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and you can watch it live for free.
The 23 Starlink broadband proving spacecraft will be carried to low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket with a launch window commencing at 11:01 p.m. EST Thursday (0401 GMT Friday, Dec. 29). You can watch the launch here at Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, a few minutes before the launch begins.
This won’t be the only SpaceX launch today, however. The company is also planning to blast off a Falcon Heavy rocket carrying the secretive X-37B spaceplane earlier in the same evening.
The X-37B launch is targeted for 8:07 p.m. EST (0107 GMT Friday, Dec. 29) and will also likely be broadcast live.
Related: SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket to launch secretive X-37B space plane today
The X-37B mission will be the 97th SpaceX launch in 2023, while the Starlink satellite launch (known as 6-36) will be the company’s 98th launch this year if these two SpaceX missions go as planned today.
The 98 SpaceX launches in 2023 are expected to include 91 Falcon 9 blast-offs, 5 Falcon Heavy launches, and two lift-offs for the company’s Starship launch system. SpaceX carried out 61 launches in 2022 — 60 for Falcon 9 rockets and just one Falcon Heavy launch — and achieved 31 launches in 2021 and 26 in 2020, all of which were Falcon 9 rockets.
SpaceX will just miss out on closing out 2023 with 100 launches, with the next and 99th blast-off for the company planned for Saturday (Dec. 30). SpaceX’s final launch of 2023 will see a further 21 Starlink spacecraft carried to low Earth orbit by a Falcon 9 rocket, which will lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The Dec. 28 Starlink launch will be the 12th flight for this first-stage booster, according to SpaceX, which has also carried CRS-24, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F, OneWeb 1, SES-18 and SES-19 cargo to space, as well as conducting seven previous Starlink missions.
As of November 2023, the Starlink mega constellation consisted of over 5,200 operational broadband internet-providing small satellites in low-Earth orbit. SpaceX intends to deploy as many as 12,000 satellites for Starlink, with the company hoping they will be allowed to expand this to as many as 42,000 units.
