Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

How to watch SpaceX launch Starlink satellites and two payloads tonight

Georgina Torbet
By
Starlink Mission

Tonight, SpaceX will continue to expand its constellation of Starlink satellites to provide global broadband internet. The company will be launching a rocket from Florida, and the launch will be streamed live so you can watch along from home.

What to expect from the Starlink launch

A Falcon 9 rocket will be launching a batch of 52 Starlink satellites in addition to two other payloads: A Capella Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, and a smallsat from a California company called Tyvak-0130.

As is typical for SpaceX missions, several parts of the Falcon 9 rocket in this launch have been used before in previous missions. SpaceX seems to have cracked the reusable rocket concept, having recently used a Falcon 9 rocket booster on its 10th mission, which was the company’s long-stated goal for reusability.

Related

For this Starlink mission, the booster being used has been on several previous missions. As SpaceX writes, “The Falcon 9 first-stage booster that supported this mission previously launched NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1, and three Starlink missions.”

In addition, both halves of the fairing being used have flown on previous missions, with one half used in the SXM-7 mission, and the other used in the NROL-108 mission.

How to watch the Starlink launch

The launch is scheduled to take place at 6:54 p.m. ET (3:54 PT) on Saturday, May 15, from from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. If weather or other conditions prevent the launch from going ahead, there is a backup window tomorrow, Sunday, May 16. However, the weather at Cape Canaveral is predicted to be fine and sunny today, so it looks likely that the launch can go ahead as planned.

SpaceX will be livestreaming the launch so you’ll be able to watch it live. This includes the last-minute preparations before launch, the launch itself, the landing of the Falcon 9’s first stage on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean, and confirmation of the deployment of the Starlink satellites and other payloads.

You can watch the livestream either on SpaceX’s YouTube channel or by using the video embedded at the top of this page. The livestream is set to begin around 15 minutes before the launch takes place, so that’s around 6:40 p.m. ET (3:40 p.m. PT).

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
How to watch SpaceX launch its new Cargo Dragon capsule to ISS
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the company’s 22nd Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station.
SpaceX launches booster for 11th time, but this time it didn’t return
spacex launch booster 11th time falcon9
How to watch SpaceX launch a resupply mission to ISS on Tuesday
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on the company’s 22nd Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station.
How to watch Orion make its closest approach to the moon on Monday
An artist's depiction of the Orion spacecraft flying close to the moon.
Strangely chonky exoplanet has astronomers puzzled
Artist’s conception of a gas giant exoplanet orbiting around a Sun-like star. The young exoplanet HD 114082 b revolves around its Sun-like star within 110 days at a distance of 0.5 astronomical units.
All the science that’s launching to the space station today
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with the company’s Dragon cargo spacecraft atop, is raised to a vertical position at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A on Nov. 21, 2022, in preparation for the 26th commercial resupply services launch to the International Space Station.
Listen to the spooky echoes of a black hole
The black hole in V404 Cygni is actively pulling material away from a companion star — with about half the mass of the Sun — into a disk around the invisible object. A burst of X-rays from the black hole detected in 2015 created the high-energy rings from a phenomenon known as light echoes, where light bounces off of dust clouds in between the system and Earth. In these images, X-rays from Chandra are shown, along with optical data from the Pan-STARRS telescope that depict the stars in the field of view.
Hubble captures a pair of galaxies merging into an unusual ring shape
The galaxy merger Arp-Madore 417-391 steals the spotlight in this image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. The Arp-Madore catalog is a collection of particularly peculiar galaxies spread throughout the southern sky, and includes a collection of subtly interacting galaxies as well as more spectacular colliding galaxies. Arp-Madore 417-391, which lies around 670 million light-years away in the constellation Eridanus in the southern celestial hemisphere, is one such galactic collision. The two galaxies were distorted by gravity and twisted into a colossal ring, leaving their cores nestled side by side.
See a stunning image of the Orion nebula stellar nursery
This infrared image of the Orion Nebula features plenty of dust but no stars. In these infrared wavelengths, it’s possible to see hot spots where new stars are forming, while unseen bright, massive stars have carved out caverns of empty space.
James Webb gets most detailed look yet at an exoplanet’s atmosphere
New observations of WASP-39b with the JWST have provided a clearer picture of the exoplanet, showing the presence of sodium, potassium, water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide in the planet's atmosphere. This artist's illustration also displays newly detected patches of clouds scattered across the planet.
SpaceX Dragon spacecraft delivers new solar arrays and more to ISS
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon cargo craft lifts off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the International Space Station on Nov. 26, 2022.
How astronomers worked together to spot an asteroid before it hit Earth
This time-lapse photograph was taken by astronomer Robert Weryk from near his home in London, Ontario, Canada, after NASA’s Scout system forewarned him about the entry of 2022 WJ1 on Nov. 19, 2022. The resulting fireball streaked directly overhead and continued east until it broke up.
Rocket footage shows awesome new view of Orion spacecraft launch
The view from the Orion spacecraft as it launched on NASA's SLS rocket in November 2022.