Skip to main content

How to watch today’s SpaceX launch of a Sirius XM satellite

SXM-7 Mission

Today, Sunday, 13 December, SpaceX will launch a Sirius XM satellite into orbit using one of its Falcon 9 rockets. The launch was originally planned for Friday, December 11, but it had to be delayed due to what SpaceX described as “additional ground system checkouts.”

Recommended Videos

With the checkouts complete, the SpaceX team is now preparing for the mission, dubbed SXM-7, to go ahead today. It aims to replace an outdated Sirius XM satellite which provides satellite radio programming for North America, and we have all the details on how you can watch this launch live.

How to watch the launch

The launch will be livestreamed by SpaceX, which you can watch either on the company’s YouTube page or using the embedded video above. The launch is scheduled for 8:22 a.m. PT on Sunday, December 13, with coverage set to begin just after 8 a.m. PT.

The livestream will show the final preparations for launch, the liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket, the ascent and max q phase, the separation of the first stage, and the attempt to catch the first stage on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The particular Falcon 9 booster being used in today’s mission has been used before in a famous mission — it was used in the historic Demo-1 mission which tested out the Crew Dragon capsule on its first crewed test flight to the International Space Station. Since then, it has also been used in the RADARSAT Constellation Mission and four Starlink launches this year. One half of the payload fairing has also been used before, in the ANASIS-II mission in July this year.

Starship testing

This follows a busy week for SpaceX, when the company tested its next-generation rocket, the Starship, in a high-altitude test. The Starship SN8 prototype was launched and reached an altitude of around 40,000 feet before performing its “landing flip” maneuver in which its attitude was adjusted to allow it to land vertically once more.

But as the prototype fired its engines to slow itself to land, it descended too fast and exploded in a dramatic fireball, destroying the prototype entirely.

All the same, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk seemed delighted with how the test went, saying that the team gathered the data they needed.

Georgina Torbet
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
SpaceX captures Starship booster for the first time in historic test
Mechazilla catching Starship booster stage.

SpaceX has scripted history with the fifth test of its massive Starship rocket system. The giant rocket launched from the Starbase site in South Texas earlier today, and following a brief trip to space, the reusable spacecraft made a splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

But the more remarkable feat was the successful capture of the Super Heavy booster, a fully reusable first stage that stands at a towering 71 meters and draws power from 33 Raptor engines. Up till now, the boosters have splashed into the water (or got damaged), but this time, SpaceX managed to capture it using giant mechanical arms.

Read more
How to watch SpaceX’s fifth Starship test flight on Sunday
spacex starship fifth flight live stream 5 website desktop 1 12e2f537a0 jpg

SpaceX is getting ready to launch its mighty Starship on its fifth test flight, scheduled for Sunday, October 13. With a mostly-successful fourth test flight behind it, the Starship has already been into orbit and returned to Earth mostly intact. This time, SpaceX will be hoping to catch its Super Heavy booster as well as taking the upper stage Starship into orbit.

The exact date of this fifth test flight has been delayed due to issues with licensing from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), but SpaceX has now confirmed it is targeting 8 a.m. ET (5 a.m. PT) Sunday for its test.

Read more
SpaceX could launch Starship on 5th test flight much earlier than expected
The world's most powerful rocket on the launchpad.

There’s growing expectation that SpaceX could launch the mighty Starship rocket as early as Sunday, October 13.

SpaceX was informed by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last month that it was unlikely to receive a launch permit until late November as the regulator needed time to complete work on its flight launch assessment.

Read more