SpaceX double launch: Starlink and Koreasat launch from Florida today

It’s a great start to the week for space fans as SpaceX will launch the Koreasat-6A mission into orbit from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, in addition to 24 more Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station later this year day.

Koreasat-6A’s four-hour launch window opens at 12:07 p.m. ET. SpaceX is scheduled to launch the 24 Starlink satellites within a time window that begins at 4:02 p.m. ET and ends at 7:44 p.m

The Starlink launch was originally scheduled for Sunday but was postponed due to “unfavorable recovery weather conditions,” according to a post from SpaceX on X (formerly Twitter).

A Falcon 9 rocket will carry the 24 Starlink satellites into space from Cape Canaveral. Eight minutes after launch, if all goes according to plan, the rocket’s first launch vehicle should land on SpaceX’s autonomous drone ship. A lack of gravitasin the Atlantic.

This is the twelfth flight of this launch vehicle, which has already launched the Euclid mission, a space telescope to study the composition and evolution of the dark universe, as well as several Starlink missions.

The Falcon 9 upper stage will continue to carry the 24 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit and deploy them there approximately 65 minutes after launch.

The launch follows the successful deployment of 23 Starlink satellites on November 7th and another 20 on November 9th. The total number of Starlink satellites in orbit now stands at over 7,100, according to satellite tracking service Orbiting Now.

Koreasat-6A will replace the existing Koreasat-6 satellite and provide television broadcasting across South Korea. It will be stationed in geostationary orbit, meaning the satellite will move at the Earth’s rotation speed, keeping it fixed above a specific point on the surface.

A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first booster stage of the Koreasat-6A mission will return to Florida to land at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

This will be the 23rd flight of this Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission. Two of these were manned missions that sent astronauts to the International Space Station.

How can I watch the SpaceX launch?

Both launches on Monday will be streamed online, with broadcasts beginning shortly before launch.

The Koreasat-6A mission is scheduled to launch at 12:07 ET, broadcast 15 minutes before liftoff, SpaceX’s website says. The launch will be shown on the company’s website and its X channel.

Likewise, the Starlink mission, scheduled to launch at 4:02 p.m. ET, will be broadcast on the website and on X, with viewers able to tune in five minutes before launch.

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