Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 23 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral

SpaceX is preparing to launch its 45th Starlink launch of the year, which will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Launch teams are targeting a liftoff of the Starlink 12-22 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at 1:19 p.m. EDT (1719 UTC).

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

On Friday, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast an 80 percent chance for favorable weather at the opening of the launch window, which drops to 60 percent as the nearly four-hour opportunity progresses.

“Along the sea breeze front, isolated showers are expected to form during the early afternoon, but lingering dry air in the mid-levels will initially cap off their vertical development,” launch weather officers wrote. “However, by the mid to late afternoon, more robust thunderstorms will likely develop inland as heating and instability increases.

“Westerly winds aloft may steer those storms and their associated anvil clouds back towards the coast by the end of the launch window each day.”

SpaceX will use its fourth most flown Falcon booster to support this mission, tail number B1069, which will fly for a 24th time. Its previous missions include SpaceX’s 24th Commercial Resupply Services flight to the International Space Station, OneWeb Mission 15 and 18 batches of Starlink satellites.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1069 will target a landing on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ If all goes to plan, this will be the 110th touchdown for this vessel and the 451st booster landing to date.

Onboard the Falcon 9 rocket are 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, 13 of which have Direct to Cell capabilities. Prior to Saturday’s launch, SpaceX launched 234 of these cellular capable satellites into low Earth orbit.