Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB

SpaceX is to launch its second Starlink mission in the month of May, this time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

The Starlink 17-29 mission will send another 24 broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit, adding to a constellation of more than 10,000 spacecraft. SpaceX’s first Starlink launch of the month was from Cape Canaveral on May 1.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled at 7:35 p.m. PDT (10:35 p.m. EDT / 0235 UTC). The Falcon 9 rocket will fly on a south-southwesterly trajectory upon leaving the pad.

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

SpaceX will launch the mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster B1081, making its 24th flight. Previous launches by this booster included the NASA Crew-7, PACE, and CRS-29 missions.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1081 will target a landing on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If successful, this will be the 195th landing on this vessel and the 609 booster landing for SpaceX to date.