SpaceX is preparing for its 50th Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday.
The Starlink 11-19 mission will add another 28 Starlink satellites to its broadband internet constellation in low Earth orbit. There are more than 8,600 satellites currently in orbit, according to stats maintained by astronomer and expert orbital tracker Jonathan McDowell.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled for 10:59 a.m. PDT (1:59 p.m. EDT / 1759 UTC).
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to launch.
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number B1088 to launch this mission. This is its 11th flight following the launches of NASA’s SPHEREx, Transporter-12 and two missions for the National Reconnaissance Office.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1088 will target an autonomous landing on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean. If all goes well, this will be the 158th landing on this vessel and the 521st booster landing to date.
