SpaceX is set to launch another batch of its Starlink internet satellites today (Jan. 18), just two days after a test flight of the company’s Starship megarocket ended in an explosion.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 27 Starlink craft is scheduled to lift off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base today, during a nearly two-hour window that opens at 12:03 p.m. EST (1703 GMT; 9:03 a.m. local time).
SpaceX will webcast the action live via its X account, beginning about five minutes before launch.
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will return to Earth about eight minutes after liftoff, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.”
It will be the 10th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. Seven of its nine flights to date have been Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, will haul the 27 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, deploying them there 61.5 minutes after liftoff.
Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky
Today’s launch will be the ninth Falcon 9 mission of 2025 and SpaceX’s 10th liftoff overall.
The other launch was the seventh-ever test flight of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket, which took place on Thursday (Jan. 16) from South Texas.
That flight was a mixed bag for the company. Starship’s giant first-stage booster came back to its launch site for a dramatic catch by the tower’s “chopstick” arms, but the vehicle’s upper stage exloded just 8.5 minutes after liftoff, apparently after suffering a propellant leak.
