SpaceX is preparing to launch back-to-back Falcon 9 rockets on Sunday from both California and Florida. The Starlink 12-23 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set to follow the Starlink 11-9 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 is targeting 10:58 p.m. EDT (0258 UTC). This will be SpaceX’s 49th Falcon 9 launch of 2025.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
On Saturday, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90 percent chance of favorable weather for liftoff, citing potential weather constraints due to presence of cumulus clouds and anvil clouds.
“By late Sunday, a front approaching from the northwest will syphon moisture ahead of the boundary with a few seabreeze-induced showers possible especially northwest of the Spaceport,” meteorologists wrote. “Moist onshore flow in the proximity of the boundary and a likely seabreeze collision will lead to scattered showers and possibly a few thunderstorms during the afternoon and evening across central Florida.”
The Falcon 9 first stage booster being used on this mission, tail number B1077 in the SpaceX fleet, will launch for a 20th time. Its previous missions include 12 batches of Starlink satellites, three flights to the International Space Station and the GPS 3 Space Vehicle 06.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1077 will target a landing on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ positioned in the Atlantic Ocean, east of The Bahamas. If successful, this will be the 117th booster landing on JRTI and the 438th booster landing to date.
SpaceX is also planning to launch another Falcon 9 rocket Sunday night on the Starlink 11-9 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base. That mission will send 27 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
