SpaceX will loft a new batch of Starlink internet satellites into orbit from Florida’s Space Coast today (Feb. 29) in a Leap Day launch that comes after the company delayed its first astronaut launch of the year.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch 23 Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).
You can watch SpaceX’s Starlink launch live online via the @SpaceX account on X (formerly Twitter) and the company’s website. The webcast will begin about 5 minutes before liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
SpaceX shifted into launch operations for the upcoming Starlink 6-40 mission in the wee hours of today after calling off plans to launch four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on the agency’s Crew-8 mission. That flight was scheduled to launch just after midnight on Friday (March 1), but SpaceX postponed it to no earlier than Saturday night due to rough offshore weather that could pose concerns during launch abort scenarios.
Today’s Starlink launch will mark the 11th flight for its Falcon 9 booster, which has already helped launch five Starlink missions, four commercial satellite flights and one uncrewed NASA cargo run to the ISS. If all goes well, the booster will return to Earth just over 8 minutes after liftoff to land on the drone ship Just Read The Instructions so it can be returned to port for a future flight.
SpaceX regularly launches Starlink satellites into orbit as it works to build up a massive megaconstellation in low-Earth orbit to provide global, high-speed internet access directly from space. The company eventually hopes to have up to 42,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit. The most recent Starlink mission launched on Feb. 25.
The satellites riding on today’s mission are SpaceX’s Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites.
There is an 85% chance of good weather at launch time for the Starlink mission, according to a forecast by the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron.