An early-evening Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base Saturday will add another 27 satellites to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled during a window that opens at 6:47 p.m. PDT (9:47 p.m. EDT / 0147 UTC). The rocket will hug the Californian coast line and should be visible to millions as it soars on southeasterly trajectory upon leaving the pad. It will be the 81st Starlink mission of the year.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
The Falcon 9 booster, B1093, will be making its 17th flight to space and back after previously launching two missions for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Development Agency (SDA), Transporter-16, and 13 batches of Starlink satellites.
About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1093 will target a landing on the droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, positioned in the Pacific Ocean. If successful, this will be the 225th landing on this vessel and the 662nd Falcon booster landing to date.
The 27 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites onboard the Starlink 15-27 mission are set to deploy a little more than an hour after liftoff.
