As integration and testing continue on the spacecraft, DART’s investigation team has kicked off the mission’s final prelaunch observation campaign on the ground, using powerful telescopes located around the world in an effort to get a glimpse of the asteroid system that DART will encounter this year.

SpaceX is targeting Wednesday, January 20 for its seventeenth Starlink mission, which will launch 60 Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center. The instantaneous window is at 8:02 a.m. EST, or 13:02 UTC.

The Falcon 9 first stage rocket booster supporting this mission previously flew on seven other missions: the SXM-7 mission in December 2020, launch of the RADARSAT Constellation Mission in June 2019, launch of Crew Dragon’s first demonstration mission in March 2019, and four Starlink missions. Following stage separation, SpaceX will land Falcon 9’s first stage on the “Just Read the Instructions” droneship, which will be located in the Atlantic Ocean. One half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously supported a Starlink mission and the other previously supported two.