SpaceX is gearing up for a double Starlink mission, with launches set to take place from both Florida and California. The first mission, named Starlink 6-45, is scheduled to depart from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at pad 40. Liftoff is planned for 9:02 p.m. EDT (0102 UTC), marking the 20th Starlink mission of 2024.

The launch weather conditions are highly favorable, with a forecast of over 95 percent chance of good conditions, although the Thick Cloud Layers rule is being closely monitored by the 45th Weather Squadron. Spaceflight Now will provide live coverage of the event starting an hour prior to liftoff.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster designated as B1067, part of SpaceX's fleet, will be utilized for the 18th time in this mission. It has previously supported significant missions such as Crew-3 and Crew-4 flights to the International Space Station, as well as Commercial Resupply Services flights and eight Starlink missions.

Approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the B1067 booster is scheduled to make its landing on the SpaceX droneship named "A Shortfall of Gravitas." If successful, this will mark the 63rd landing for the droneship and the 290th booster landing overall for SpaceX.

According to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and expert tracker of satellites, there are currently 5,677 Starlink satellites in orbit out of the 6,079 that have been launched. The upcoming Starlink 6-45 mission will add 23 more satellites to these numbers.

In other Starlink news, SpaceX recently announced that Argentina has become the 72nd country to allow access to its satellite internet service. Additionally, the company shared data highlighting progress in lowering latency. SpaceX stated that it has reduced median and worst-case latency for users around the world, with the aim of achieving less than 20 milliseconds (ms) latency. In the United States alone, median latency has been reduced by more than 30 percent during peak usage hours, from 48.5ms to 33ms. Worst-case peak hour latency has seen a reduction of over 60 percent, dropping from over 150ms to less than 65ms. Similar latency improvements have also been observed outside of the United States.

With continuous efforts to improve its satellite internet service, SpaceX's Starlink team is making significant progress in reducing latency, providing users with a more efficient and reliable network connection.