SpaceX is scheduled to launch its 40th Starlink mission of the year Wednesday night, sending 25 more broadband internet satellites toward low Earth orbit on the Starlink 17-14 flight. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is set for 8:23:09 p.m. PDT, or 11:23:09 p.m. EDT, after SpaceX adjusted the launch time late Tuesday night.
The Falcon 9 is due to lift off on a south-southwesterly trajectory from Vandenberg Space Force Base, with live coverage planned to begin about 30 minutes before liftoff. The mission adds to a constellation that already includes more than 10,200 spacecraft, underscoring how central Starlink has become to SpaceX’s launch cadence this year.
SpaceX will fly Falcon 9 first stage booster B1100, tail number 1100, on its fifth mission. The booster previously supported the launches of NROL-105 and three other batches of Starlink satellites, giving the flight another used rocket heading back to space rather than a new one. That is now routine for SpaceX, but it remains the sharpest sign of how much of the company’s launch business is built around reusing hardware quickly and repeatedly.
About eight minutes after liftoff, B1100 is scheduled to touch down on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. If the landing succeeds, it will be the 192nd booster recovery on that vessel and SpaceX’s 602nd booster landing overall. The close of the flight would answer the only real question left on a night like this: whether the company can keep turning the same booster and the same launch pad into another completed Starlink deployment, on schedule and without drama.
