Dec. 28: SpaceX launching 2 rockets today
SpaceX is planning two rocket launches in the next 12 hours, one from California and the other from Florida.
The first launch is a Falcon 9 rocket launching Saturday, Dec. 28, from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 5:48 p.m. PST (8:48 EST, 0148 GMT). You can watch the launch on SpaceX’s X account and mission page starting about 15 minutes before liftoff.
This mission, called Starlink 11-3, will launch 22 new Starlink internet satellites into orbit for SpaceX’s growing megaconstellation. It will be the 16th flight for the Falcon 9 first stage on the mission, with SpaceX hoping to recover the stage by landing it on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You shortly after launch. Previous missions include 12 Starlnk launches, a Transporter-11 rideshare flightthe SARah-2 and SDA-0A satellite missions.
The second launch by SpaceX will actually launch on Sunday, Dec. 29, but the liftoff time is at 12 a.m. EST (0500 GMT), a midnight launch for the flight. You can watch the launch on SpaceX’s X account and mission page starting about 15 minutes before liftoff.
This mission is called the “Astranis: From One to Many” and will launch four small “MicroGEO” communications satellites to provide connectivity on Earth for a variety of customers. Two satellites will provide in-flight connectivity for clients of Colorado-based Anuvu, one will serve a customer in the Philippines, and Astranis will use the fourth satellite as a so-called “UtilitySat for different clients.
This is SpaceX’s second attempt to launch the Astranis mission. A Dec. 21 launch try ended in an abort at the T-0 mark.
That’s it for the rocket launches scheduled for today.
NOTE: SpaceX is also planning to launch another 21 Starlink satellites, this time from Florida, on Monday, Dec. 30, at 12 a.m. EST, so we’ll have an update on that one tomorrow. ALSO: An Indian Space Research Organisation Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled to launch the new SpaDeX to test autonomous rendezvous and docking technology. It is also carrying 24 other science payloads for ISRO, universities and companies aboard its Poem-4 module. ISRO’s SpaDeX is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 30, at 11:28 a.m. EST (9:58 p.m. IST, 1628 GMT).