Watch live the first SpaceX takeoff of 2022


Starlink launches a Falcon 9 rocket to deploy 49 Starlink satellites. The flight is scheduled for January 6 and can be followed live.

The Starlink launch at a glance

  • What ? The launching of 49 Starlink satellites;
  • When ? January 6, 2022, 10:49 p.m. (Paris time);
  • Where ? At the Kennedy Space Center, California;
  • What will we see? The take-off of the Falcon 9 rocket.

What is SpaceX’s mission?

First take-off of the year 2022 for SpaceX and it is for the benefit of its Starlink service that it will take place. The shooting consists of propelling into space a cluster of 52 telecommunications satellites, which will then be dispersed in low earth orbit, at a few hundred kilometers above sea level, always with the aim of offering Internet access from space.

Some sequences of a takeoff of a Falcon 9 for the benefit of Starlink. // Source: SpaceX

At the start of the year, there are almost 1,900 Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth. That’s already considerable, but it’s just the start: SpaceX fantasizes about owning a few tens of thousands of them in the long run, but it’s increasingly annoying astronomers, as well as space agencies, like the United States. Esa, and some states, like China.

SpaceX plans to recover the first stage of its rocket, once the mission is completed. The booster will automatically return to Earth and land on an ocean barge off the coast. This part of the rocket has already been used on numerous occasions: the sending of two additional GPS satellites (GPS III-4 and III-5) and the manned mission Inspiration4.

When does the Falcon 9 rocket take off?

Takeoff is announced for Thursday, January 6, 2022, with a Falcon 9 rocket. The launch will take place from Florida, on the east coast of the United States, from a launch pad located in the Kennedy Space Center. Take-off will take place at 4:49 p.m. (local time), i.e. 10:49 p.m. in mainland France. A fallback window is open on January 7, if take-off cannot take place.

Where to watch the launch live?

The shot is being streamed on SpaceX’s official website, as well as its YouTube channel. It can be followed directly in the embedded video below.





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