SpaceX Falcon 9 Starlink mission Thursday sets stage for next launch this weekend

After enduring a soggy night on the Space Coast and delaying liftoff well into a four-hour launch window, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried more internet-beaming Starlink satellites to orbit Thursday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

At 10:21 p.m. EDT, the 230-foot rocket vaulted away from Launch Complex 40, boosting 22 more of the flat-pack satellites that provide high-speed internet services to more than one million subscribers around the globe.

Flying a southeasterly trajectory, the rocket skirted between Florida and the Bahamas, emitting a long-lasting rumble on the Space Coast. The first stage booster, landing on a drone ship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, completed its seventh flight to space and back.

Thursday's flight marked the 45th launch from Florida's Space Coast this year. It set the stage for the next Starlink mission to liftoff as early as this weekend.

What was the payload?

All told, SpaceX has sent more than 5,000 of its Starlink satellites to orbit since first beginning dedicated missions to fill out the globally spanning constellation in 2019.

With no intention of slowing production or regular Starlink launch services for the foreseeable future, the company anticipates needing tens of thousands of the spacecraft to offer continual replacements of older units that decay and burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. That means a lot more Starlink launches are on the horizon.

As it is now, the Starlink service provides in-motion connectivity to planes, boats, and recreational vehicles and supports residential and government customers on every continent. In the U.S., residential Starlink internet service starts at $120 for residential customers plus an initial $599 hardware fee.

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When is the next SpaceX launch?

If schedules hold, the next Falcon 9 slated for liftoff from Florida will send another batch of Starlink satellites to orbit, but this time from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Though the company has yet to confirm this flight, federal filings have liftoff of SpaceX's Starlink 6-12 mission from KSC's pad 39A targeted to happen during a launch window from 7:37 p.m. to 11:37 p.m. EDT on Sunday.

Shortly after liftoff, that mission will also feature another drone ship landing meaning Space Coast residents shouldn't have any sonic booms to worry about.

Meanwhile, in space, four members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-6 mission, which launched to the space station in March, wait for an opportunity to come home. NASA said Friday that the Crew-6 departure is slated for Sunday, Sept. 3, at the earliest.

If that schedule holds, they will splash down somewhere off the Florida coast early Monday. A landing location will be determined closer to undocking, which will be dependent on weather conditions.

For the latest schedule updates, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Jamie Groh at JGroh@floridatoday.com and follow her on X at @AlteredJamie.

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Launch Sunday, Sept. 3

• Company / Agency: Internal SpaceX mission

• Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9

• Location: Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center

• Launch Window: 7:07 p.m. to 11:37 p.m. EDT

• Trajectory: Southeast

• Weather: TBD

• Landing: Drone ship

• Live coverage: Starts 90 minutes before liftoff at floridatoday.com/space

• About: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company's latest batch of Starlink internet satellites from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Thursday's SpaceX Starlink mission sets stage for another this weekend