Got any weekend plans? How about watching SpaceX launch its next rocket from Southern California?
The commercial spaceflight company’s famed Falcon 9 rocket is due to get off the ground overnight this weekend from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County. And for the first time in more than two weeks, the spacecraft will carry a batch of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites for deployment to low-Earth orbit.
Because SpaceX’s has postponed a rideshare mission known as Transporter-15 to Thanksgiving week, the only other mission the company has launched in November was NASA-designed Sentinel-6B satellites to track rising sea levels.
Being that the mission is getting off the ground in Southern California, you could make the trip to a spot near the launch site to watch the Falcon 9 thunder into the sky. Or, you could just stay home and watch a SpaceX livestream.
Here’s everything to know about the latest SpaceX Starlink mission, and how to watch a webcast of the Falcon 9 launching.
Is there a rocket launch today? Next liftoff from California
SpaceX is working toward a Sunday, Nov. 23, launch of its Falcon 9 rocket from Southern California, with the four-hour launch window opening at midnight PT, according to a launch alert. The launch will take place from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.
A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory suggests a backup opportunity is available the next day if the launch were to be postponed.
What is launching from Vandenberg? SpaceX Falcon 9 to deploy Starlink
SpaceX will launch its famous two-stage 230-foot Falcon 9 rocket, one of the world’s most active, to deliver 28 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit, a lower altitude where they’re able to circle Earth quickly.
How to watch SpaceX Starlink launch livestream
Californians, of course, have plenty of opportunities to see a rocket in person both near the launch site as it lifts off, and further away as it soars overhead.
But SpaceX also provides a live webcast of its missions for those who prefer to watch from home.
As with most SpaceX missions, the launch will be available to stream on the company’s website and its new X TV mobile app, beginning about five minutes before liftoff. SpaceX may also provide updates on social media site X.
What is SpaceX?
Billionaire Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, founded SpaceX in 2002.
The commercial spaceflight company is headquartered at Starbase in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border. The site, which is where SpaceX has been conducting routine flight tests of its 400-foot megarocket known as Starship, was recently voted by residents to become its own city.
SpaceX conducts many of its own rocket launches, most using the Falcon 9 rocket, from California and Florida. That includes a regular cadence of deliveries of Starlink internet satellites into orbit, and occasional privately funded commercial crewed missions on the Dragon – the only U.S vehicle capable of carrying astronauts to the International Space Station.
SpaceX additionally benefits from billions of dollars in contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense by providing launch services for classified satellites and other payloads.
What is Starlink?
Starlink is SpaceX’s lucrative satellite internet business.
Owned by Musk, Starlink has grown into a constellation of more than 8,700 satellites that provide internet service to customers around the world. SpaceX has spent more than six years delivering the satellites to orbit with a regular cadence of rocket launches from both Florida and California.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: SpaceX to launch Falcon 9 this weekend in California. Watch a livestream
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
