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SpaceX’s Latest Starlink Satellite Launch
SpaceX is gearing up to launch another batch of its revolutionary Starlink internet satellites tonight, marking the second launch in a planned spaceflight doubleheader. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to take off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a 3.5-hour window commencing at 9:49 p.m. EDT (0149 GMT on May 3). The company will be livestreaming the event through its X account, beginning approximately five minutes before the scheduled launch window.
This Starlink mission will be SpaceX’s second launch of the day, provided all goes as planned. Earlier in the day, a Falcon 9 rocket successfully deployed two Earth-observation satellites for the company Maxar from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
Following the launch of the Starlink satellites tonight, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage is set to return to Earth for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship “A Shortfall of Gravitas”, stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This landing will mark the 19th successful launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. This achievement is just one launch away from breaking the company’s rocket reuse record, previously set last month and tied by two other Falcon 9 rockets, including the one launched from Vandenberg earlier today.
Starlink, SpaceX’s groundbreaking broadband constellation operating in low Earth orbit, currently comprises more than 5,800 active satellites. The company has been actively deploying these satellites this year, with 43 orbital missions launched in 2024, 29 of which have been dedicated to expanding the Starlink megaconstellation.
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