Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 24 Starlink satellites to polar orbit from California

SpaceX is aiming to launch Starlink satellites into a polar orbit for the first time since 2023. The mission, dubbed Starlink 17-1, will send 24 of the broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit at a 97 degree inclination.

Launch teams are targeting a liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 9:14 a.m. PDT (12:14 p.m. EDT, 1614 UTC).

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to launch.

SpaceX will use Falcon 9 booster, tail number 1082, to launch this mission, which will be making its 13th flight. Its previously flew NROl-145, USSF-62, OneWeb Launch 20 and nine other batches of Starlink satellites.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1082 will target a landing on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If successful, this will be the 132nd touchdown on this vessel and the 452nd booster landing to date.

SpaceX rarely launches Starlink satellites into a polar orbit. Out of the more than 260 Starlink missions so far, the company has sent Starlink satellites in a 97.6 degree inclination fewer than 10 times:

• Jul. 11, 2022 – Starlink 3-1
• Jul. 22, 2022 – Starlink 3-2
• Aug. 12, 2022 – Starlink 3-3
• Aug. 31, 2022 – Starlink 3-4
• Apr. 27, 2023 – Starlink 3-5

The first two Transporter rideshare missions also sent Starlink satellites into a polar orbit. There were 10 that flew on Transporter-1 in January 2021 and three on Transporter-2 in June 2021, both of which went to a 97.5 degree inclination.