SpaceX will launch its 2,000th Starlink satellite of the year when its Falcon 9 rocket takes flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday morning.
The mission, dubbed Starlink 17-9, will carry 24 broadband satellites into a polar, low Earth orbit. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled for 11:05 a.m. PDT (2:05 p.m. EDT / 1805 UTC).
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
SpaceX will use its Falcon 9 first stage booster B1075, which will launch for a 20th time. Some of its previous missions include Transporter-11, SDA-0A and 16 batches of Starlink satellites.
Eight minutes, 19 seconds after liftoff, the first stage will target a landing on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ This will be the 149th touchdown on this vessel and SpaceX’s 501st booster landing to date.
