SpaceX is set to launch its 550th Falcon 9 mission since the rocket’s debut in 2010. The upcoming launch from California will deploy 28 additional broadband internet satellites into the company’s Starlink constellation.
Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 7:16 a.m. PDT (10:16 a.m. EDT / 1416 UTC), News.Az reports citing foreign media.
SpaceX will launch the mission using the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number B1075. This will be its 21st flight following the launches of missions like Transporter-11, SARah-2 and SDA-0A.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after launch, B1075 will target an autonomous landing on the SpaceX drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean. If successful, this will be the 159th landing on this vessel and the 522nd booster landing to date.
The 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites will be deployed from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage about an hour after liftoff. The company recently launched its 10,000th Starlink satellite of those more than 8,600 are still in low Earth orbit. The Starlink 11-5 mission will be the 95th mission in 2025 supporting the low Earth orbit internet constellation.