File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX is readying a Falcon 9 rocket from a pre-dawn liftoff from Cape Canaveral with a batch of Starlink internet satellites.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 5:52:20 a.m. EST (1052:20 UTC). The rocket will fly on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the launch pad.
The Starlink 10-40 mission will add another 29 broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit. This includes the 600th Starlink satellite to be launched so far in 2026.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90 percent chance for favorable weather during the launch window, citing a small chance for interference from cumulus clouds. However, meteorologists note that the booster recovery weather may be a watch item.
SpaceX will launch the mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number 1080. This will be its 25th flight after previously launching two private astronaut missions for Axiom Space, NG-21 for Northrop Grumman, and CRS-30 for NASA, among others.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1080 will target a landing on the drone ship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ positioned in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Carolina. If successful, this will be the 145th landing on this vessel and the 581st booster landing to date for SpaceX.