Update at 5:45 pm EDT: SpaceX is now targeting an early 6:21 pm EDT (2221 GMT) launch of the SATRIA-1 satellite for Indonesia tonight. SpaceX says it will be delayed 15 minutes from its initial 6:06 pm EDT target due to high upper level winds.
SpaceX will launch an Indonesian communications satellite to orbit and land a return rocket at sea this evening (June 18), and you can watch the action live.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the SATRIA-1 satellite is scheduled to lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 6:21 p.m. EDT (2221 GMT) during a 178-minute launch window.
You can watch it live courtesy of SpaceX or on Space.com Directly through the company. Coverage is expected to begin 15 minutes prior to kickoff.
Related: 8 Ways SpaceX Changed Space Travel
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back down to Earth for a vertical touchdown on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida. The touchdown is scheduled to take place approximately 8.5 minutes later.
Step one is the 12th launch and landing for this particular booster SpaceX mission description. Those previous efforts included four Dragon missions to the International Space Station for NASA, two of which were crewed and two were robotic resupply flights.
Falcon 9’s upper stage will carry SATRIA-1 into geosynchronous transfer orbit, eventually sending the satellite there in under 37 minutes.
SATRIA-1 (its name stands for “Satellite of the Republic of Indonesia”) will be operated by the Indonesian company PSN for the Indonesian government.
The $550 million shuttle will “provide free Internet connectivity to 150,000 public facilities, including schools, regional government offices and health facilities, to increase connectivity in the country.” According to Jakarta Post.
“SATRIA-1 will have a throughput capacity of 150 billion bits per second, which is three times the capacity of the nine telecommunications satellites currently in use by Indonesia,” the outlet added.
