SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites on the Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now

Update 4:04 a.m. EST (0904 UTC): SpaceX has pushed back the mission’s launch time.

SpaceX is preparing to boost the Direct to Cell component of its Starlink constellation with a Falcon 9 launch in the early hours of Monday morning.

After a launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base late Friday evening, SpaceX will send another 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit. The Starlink 12-1 mission is scheduled to launch from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:02 a.m. EST (1002 UTC).

Spaceflight Now will report live about an hour before launch.



The forecast for the launch is as good as it gets. The 45th Weather Squadron expects no weather restrictions and a greater than 95 percent chance of good conditions at launch.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1080 in the SpaceX fleet, is making its 13th launch. It previously supported the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid launches, four missions to the International Space Station (Axiom-2, Axiom-3, NG-21 and CRS-30), SES 24 and six previous Starlink missions.

Assuming a launch at the announced time, the B1080 will shatter SpaceX’s previous record for first stage booster turnaround time by nearly a week. A launch at 4:35 a.m. EST (0935 UTC) would mean a turnaround of 13 days, 12 hours, 7 minutes, and 50 seconds.

Just over eight minutes after launch, the B1080 will land on the SpaceX drone ship, “Just read the instructions.” If successful, it will mark the 99th booster landing at JRTI and the 374th booster landing to date.

Direct to Cell available soon

The rollout of the Direct to Cell component of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation has been a big storyline for the company in 2024. After announcing in August 2022, SpaceX, along with a partnership with T-Mobile, has been continuously launching DTC Starlink satellites throughout the year. .

The company’s first launch of the year, Starlink 7-9 on January 2, 2024, carried six DTC Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. Since then, there have been 26 other launches carrying these satellites, including Starlink 9-3, which failed to reach orbit due to an anomaly in the upper stage.

Following the launch of Starlink 9-13 late Friday evening, SpaceX Senior Director of Satellite Engineering Ben Longmier said in a post on .”

While most DTC Starlink missions have launched at an inclination of 53 degrees, the Starlink 12-1 mission will launch at an inclination of 43 degrees. It was not immediately clear whether SpaceX would be able to reach the benchmark mentioned by Longmier through Monday’s launch.

There is 1 launch left to complete Direct to Cell’s first commercial orbital grenade. https://t.co/ci3kl4vKO4

— Ben Longmier (@longmier) November 24, 2024

In a post to

“We will continue to launch and improve the service thereafter to improve coverage and latency for our partner telcos around the world,” Longmier said in a post on X.

As for what consumers can expect in an initial rollout of the DTC capabilities, Longmier responded to a user on