SpaceX is poised to launch another group of its Starlink internet satellites today (Jan. 18), merely two days following a test flight of the company’s Starship megarocket that concluded in an explosion.
A Falcon 9 rocket, carrying 27 Starlink satellites, is slated to take off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base today, during a nearly two-hour window commencing at 12:03 p.m. EST (1703 GMT; 9:03 a.m. local time).
SpaceX will stream the launch live on its X account, beginning roughly five minutes prior to liftoff.
If everything proceeds as intended, the first stage of the Falcon 9 will return to Earth approximately eight minutes after takeoff, landing in the Pacific Ocean on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.”
This will mark the 10th launch and landing for this specific booster, according to a SpaceX mission overview. Out of its nine missions so far, seven have been Starlink operations.
The upper stage of the Falcon 9, in the meantime, will carry the 27 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them there 61.5 minutes post-liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellite train: how to view and monitor it in the night sky
Today’s launch will be the ninth Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and SpaceX’s 10th overall liftoff.
The prior launch was the seventh test flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket, which occurred on Thursday (Jan. 16) from South Texas.
This flight yielded mixed results for the company. The massive first-stage booster of Starship returned to its launch site for a dramatic catch by the tower’s “chopstick” arms, however, the vehicle’s upper stage exploded just 8.5 minutes after liftoff, seemingly due to a propellant leak.