by A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch on its record-breaking 14th mission on Saturday, Nov. 12, and you can watch the action live.
SpaceX is scheduled to launch Intelsat’s Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral space station in Florida on Saturday during a two-hour window that opens at 11:06 a.m. EST (4:06 p.m. GMT). ). You can watch live here on Space.com, courtesy of SpaceX, or directly through the company (opens in a new tab).
This will be the 14th takeoff of the first stage of this Falcon 9, equaling a SpaceX record. The booster also helped loft Demo-2, SpaceX’s first-ever astronaut flight, in May 2020; the RADARSAT Constellation Mission; the SXM-7 spacecraft for SiriusXM; and 10 large batches of Starlink satellites from SpaceX, the company wrote in a mission description (opens in a new tab).
Related: The 20 most memorable SpaceX missions of its first 20 years in photos
This will apparently be the booster’s last flight, however; SpaceX’s mission description says nothing about returning the rocket to Earth for a safe landing.
If all goes as planned, Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 will be deployed into geosynchronous transfer orbit approximately 33 minutes and 38 minutes after liftoff, respectively. The duo will help Intelsat refresh its communications fleet, the company said on its website. (opens in a new tab). Broadband satellites represent a “new generation of technology” for customers that largely include television broadcasters, Intelsat officials said.
Galaxy 31 and Galaxy 32 will replace the old North American satellites in geosynchronous orbit, meaning they will constantly hover above an area of Earth.
This will be Intelsat’s second launch in a month for SpaceX, which launched the Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34 satellites using a Falcon 9 rocket on Oct. 8. (It was also the 14th mission for the first stage of this Falcon 9, by the way.)
At the time, Intelsat officials said the two Galaxy satellites would provide new capabilities in C-band, a range of radio frequencies that Galaxy 31 and 32 will also use.
Saturday’s launch will be the 52nd overall for SpaceX in 2022, adding to the company’s growing annual record (which was 31, set in 2021). The next mission will also be the 48th flight using a Falcon 9 rocket previously flown this year.
The vast majority of SpaceX’s launches this year have been to expand the company’s massive Starlink satellite internet constellation. But SpaceX has also launched satellites from other companies into orbit, as well as cargo and crew missions to the International Space Station with Falcon 9s in 2022.
Additionally, SpaceX flew its Falcon Heavy on Nov. 1. The mission, which carried payloads for the US Space Force, was the mighty rocket’s first flight since June 2019.
Elizabeth Howell is co-author of “Why am I taller (opens in a new tab)?” (ECW Press, 2022; with Canadian astronaut Dave Williams), a book on space medicine. Follow her on Twitter @howellspace (opens in a new tab). Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) Where Facebook (opens in a new tab).
