Elon Musk’s SpaceX goes to the third launch of Starlink Internet satellites today

SpaceX will go for its third launch in about two weeks with another Starlink mission low Earth orbit. This will bring the total number of Starlink Internet satellites propelled to date to about 540. For its third launch, Elon Musk’s rocket organization will direct its first Starlink ride-share mission and prepare for three Planet Labs satellites.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is scheduled to launch another group of Starlink satellites into space as it proceeds with its solid momentum. Lately, SpaceX has propelled a different batch of Starlink satellites, as well as a notable launch which saw NASA astronauts exploded towards the International Space Station (ISS) – the first time astronauts had been propelled from American soil since 2011. Presently the organization is preparing for another launch which will see more Starlink satellites detonated into orbit.

For most US citizens, watching this launch will require either genuine dedication or an extreme case of insomnia. The launch of the Starlink-8 mission planned for 5:21 AM ET (09:21 UTC) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Regardless of the early hour, the mission is worth following for a few reasons.

If all goes as arranged, a SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch from Florida Saturday, only fourteen days after one more of the organization’s workhorse rockets sent NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the ISS.

The organization followed up its historic first launch of people only a few days after the fact, with a launch of Starlink satellites, and now it will play out its first Starlink ride-share, carrying 58 of its broadband satellites alongside three Earth observing rocket for Planet Labs.

The mission will bring the total number of Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit to more than 500 while expanding Planet’s SkySat fleet to 18. SpaceX’s Starlink expects to eventually incorporate a huge number of orbiting routers that will blanket the Earth in broadband internet access, while the SkySats will help Planet Labs create imagery of the Earth’s surface.

Making room for the ride-share implies that’ll be the first batch of Starlink satellites to incorporate under 60.

SpaceX said on Twitter that the launch had been moved from Friday to Saturday at 2:21 a.m. PT (5:21 a.m. ET).

The Falcon 9 first stage that will be used has previously flown twice, both times on Dragon cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station.

You can watch the launch on the live below. The stream commonly starts around 10 or 15 minutes before launch.