SpaceX is kicking off the month of February with a Monday morning Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
The Starlink 17-32 mission will add another 25 broadband internet satellites to the growing low Earth orbit constellation. Prior to liftoff there were more than 9,600 satellites on orbit, according to statistics maintained by expert orbital tracker and astronomer, Jonathan McDowell.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled during a window that opens at 7:38 a.m. PST (10:38 a.m. EST / 1538 UTC). The rocket will fly on a south-southwesterly trajectory upon leaving the pad.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
SpaceX will launch the mission using the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number 1071. This will be its 31st flight following launches, like five for the National Reconnaissance Office, five smallsat rideshare missions and NASA’s Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1071 will land on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean. If successful, this will be the 175th landing on this vessel and the 567th booster landing to date.
