Today, June 12, SpaceX intends to launch its second mission of the day, and you will be able to watch the activity live here on this page.
The rideshare mission known as Transporter-8 will get underway at 2:19 p.m. local time in California when a Falcon 9 rocket topped with 72 tiny satellites is set to blast off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 5:19 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (2119 GMT; 2:19 p.m. local California time).
You will be able to watch the launch live on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or you may access the company’s website directly. It is anticipated that coverage will begin around 15 minutes before liftoff.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch 72 satellites to orbit today (June 12) at 5:19 p.m. ET.
Within around 14 hours, SpaceX will launch its second mission, which is designated as Transporter-8. This morning at a very early hour, the business successfully placed 52 of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit using the facilities of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage of Transporter-8’s Falcon 9 will return to Earth for a vertical landing at Vandenberg if all goes according to plan. According to what SpaceX published in a mission description, this specific rocket will make its ninth launch and landing during this mission.
According to the description of the mission, the top stage of the rocket will continue to propel the 72 payloads into space. These payloads comprise “cubesats, microsats, a re-entry capsule, and orbital transfer vehicles carrying spacecraft to be deployed at a later time.”
It is anticipated that these satellites will be released from the upper stage of the Falcon 9 over the course of a period of 24 minutes, commencing one hour following liftoff.
SpaceX is now in the process of launching its eighth small-satellite “rideshare” mission, which is also the company’s third mission of this kind in the year 2023. On January 3, the Transporter-6 rocket was launched, and it successfully placed 114 satellites into orbit. On April 15, the Transporter-7 rocket successfully launched 51 spacecraft into orbit.
The record for the most satellites launched on a single rocket is currently held by SpaceX’s first dedicated rideshare mission, which took place in January 2021 and involved the launch of 143 satellites aboard the rocket known as Transporter-1.