Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 28 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX is preparing for its 75th Falcon 9 rocket launch of the year with a mission heading off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the predawn hours of Wednesday. The mission, dubbed Starlink 10-18, will include the 9,000th Starlink satellite launched to low Earth orbit.

The Falcon 9 rocket will take a north-easterly trajectory following liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:55 a.m. EDT (0555 UTC).

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.

The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a greater than 95 percent chance of favorable weather at liftoff. Meteorologists said possible evening showers should dissipate ahead of the opening of the launch window.

SpaceX will us the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number B1090 to launch the Starlink 10-18 mission. This will be its fifth trip to space and back following the launches of SES’ O3b mPOWER 7&8, NASA’S Crew-10, Bandwagon-3 and Starlink 6-67.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1090 will target a landing on the droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions.’ If successful, this will be the 125th landing on this vessel and the 464th booster landing to date.

Following the deployment of the 28 Starlink satellites, SpaceX will have launched 9,003 Starlink satellites to date. The company launched more than 1,300 in 2025 alone up to this point.