Editor’s note: On its first launch attempt on Sunday (Oct. 29), SpaceX aborted the Falcon 9 rocket after detecting a problem with its stage separation system. The company plans to try again on Monday (Oct. 30).
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket set to launch 23 Starlink Internet satellites on Monday (Oct. 30) was aborted in its second attempt.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday (Oct. 30) at 7:20 p.m. EDT (2320 GMT). If Falcon 9 cannot land on time, there are seven backup opportunities, from 7:52 pm EDT to 10:22 pm EDT (2352 to 0222 GMT on Oct. 30). SpaceX mission description.
You can watch the action live via SpaceX’s account on X (formerly known as Twitter). Coverage begins five minutes before departure.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come down to Earth for a vertical landing about 8.5 minutes after launch aboard A Shortfall of Gravitas, a drone stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to the mission description, this is the eighth launch and landing for the first stage of the rocket.
If all goes as planned, the 23 Starlink satellites will be launched into low-Earth orbit from the top of the Falcon 9 after 65.5 minutes.
Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband megaconstellation that provides Internet service to customers around the world. SpaceX has launched more than 5,000 Starlink satellites into LEO to date, and more liftoffs are coming: the company has permits to deploy 12,000 spacecraft, and it has applied for permits for 30,000 more.
