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A SpaceX rocket scheduled to lift off from the Southern California coast Wednesday night will carry 20 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
A four-hour launch slot at Vandenberg Space Force Base northwest of Santa Barbara is scheduled to open at 4:06 p.m., with additional launch slots scheduled for Thursday.
The first stage of the rocket lands on a drone ship at sea. This will be the 12th flight of the first stage booster.
On clear skies, rockets and their exhaust plumes can be seen for hundreds of miles as they fly along the coast. Launches just after sunset and before sunrise typically offer the best views as the rocket reflects sunlight against a dark sky.
Sunset in Los Angeles on Wednesday is 16:44
Starlink is a satellite-based internet system that SpaceX has been building for years to provide internet access to underserved areas of the world.
SpaceX has a constellation of Starlink satellites that orbit Earth about 340 miles above the Earth and are launched into space by the company’s rockets. The Starlink network is designed to provide high-speed internet anywhere in the world.
If the lighting conditions are good, you can see the satellites parading across the night sky on a train. The satellite may be visible in the first few minutes after sunset and in the first few minutes before sunrise when the sun is below the horizon, but the satellite is high enough to reflect direct sunlight.
Use the FindStarlink tracker to find the best viewing time for you in the future.
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