Spaceflight

List of SpaceX Starlink launches for April 2024

Posted by

and

April 30, 2024

SpaceX Starlink: A rocket blasting through a deep blue sky with a jet of orange, yellow, and white propelling it upwards. — Falcon 9 takes flight from Florida on April 28, 2024, delivering 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit. Image and caption via SpaceX.

Starlink launches in April 2024

Starlink Group 6-54: April 28, 2024, 6:08 pm EDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-53: April 23, 2024, 6:17 pm EDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-52: April 18, 2024, 6:40 pm EDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-51: April 17, 2024, 5:26 pm EDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Kennedy Space Center, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-49: April 12, 2024, 9:40 pm EDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-48: April 10, 2024, 1:40 am EDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 8-1: April 6, 2024, 7:25 pm PDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg Space Force Station, California | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 6-47: April 5, 2024, 5:12 am EDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | SUCCESS

Starlink Group 7-18: April 1, 2024, 7:30 pm PDT
Falcon 9 Block 5 | Vandenberg Space Force Station, California | SUCCESS

You can watch a livestream of the Starlink launches on SpaceX’s X account.

After launch, look for a train of lights

Following every Starlink launch, the internet buzzes with people asking:

What’s that long line of lights in the sky that looks like a train?

What you’re seeing is the Starlink satellites moving into a higher orbit. You can check to see if they will pass over your area using the Find Starlink website.

Growing numbers amid controversy

According to Wikipedia, as of January 2024, Starlink consists of over 5,275 mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit that communicate with designated ground transceivers. They provide internet access to more than 2 million subscribers.

Love ’em or hate ’em, these Starlink satellites are part of SpaceX’s vision for a global internet communication satellite constellation. They deliver high-speed internet service worldwide, mainly to locations where ground-based internet is unreliable, unavailable or expensive. The private company is well-known for launching batches back-to-back, several times a month, regularly lofting 60 satellites at a time. And SpaceX plans to build up to perhaps as many as 30,000 eventually.

Most thought it was exciting to see the first few Starlink satellites traveling together in the night sky. But then more were launched, and then more. And astronomers began to worry.

Because Starlinks are bright, astronomers say they’re photobombing astronomical images. Therefore, they have the potential to interfere with the professional astronomical observations that have brought us our modern-day view of the cosmos. And although SpaceX has tried to address the issue, they remain far from what astronomers say is acceptable.

Bottom line: Get a list of all the SpaceX Starlink launches for April 2024 from both the West and East Coasts!

Via Space Launch Schedule

Via Spaceflight Now

Posted

April 30, 2024

in

Spaceflight

Brooke Allen

View Articles

About the Author:

Brooke Allen is an editorial intern for EarthSky. As a team member, she assists in editing posts for publication, updating the website and social media, and completing other editorial tasks. A journalism major at the University of Texas at Austin, Brooke has a knack for words and a passion for storytelling. She joined EarthSky to delve into the world of astronomy, an interest of hers since she took her first class and fell irrevocably in love. Alongside studying the stars and cosmos, she is also learning Italian. In her free time, she loves to cook and bake, hike, visit thrift shops, and pet every dog she sees.