CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — It looks like Mother Nature didn't want SpaceX to launch more than 20 Starlink satellites on Wednesday night, so SpaceX put off the launch until Thursday.
What You Need To Know
- SpaceX will send off Starlink 10-2 mission
- The takeoff will happen at Space Launch Complex 40
The Falcon 9 rocket will send up Starlink 10-2 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX.
The launch window opens at 4:46 p.m. ET Thursday, with additional launch opportunities available until 6:40 p.m. ET.
Liftoff had been scheduled for 9 p.m. ET Wednesday after being pushed from 5:20 p.m. ET, and then 7:20 p.m. ET. While SpaceX does not normally mention why it pushes back launches, weather conditions were not satisfactory because of scattered showers and storms.
The 45th Weather Squadron is still only giving a 25% chance of good liftoff conditions Thursday.
The squadron is citing the Anvil cloud, cumulus cloud and surface electric fields rules as the main concerns.
Sweet 16 launch
This will be the Sweet 16 launch for the Falcon 9's first-stage booster B1073. It has 15 missions it is already proud of:
- ispace’s HAKUTO-R and NASA’s Lunar Flashlight
- SES-22 telecommunications satellite
- Amazonas Nexus
- CRS-27
- Bandwagon-1
- 9 Starlink satellite missions
After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket should land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that will be in the Atlantic Ocean.
About the mission
The 22 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit.
Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been documenting Starlink satellites.
Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:
- 6,153 are in orbit
- 5,237 are in operational orbit
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