SpaceX is in a race to ready a Falcon 9 rocket for liftoff from Cape Canaveral Tuesday evening, as launch preparations are lagging behind schedule. The current liftoff with a batch of 23 Starlink satellites is scheduled for 2:27 a.m. EST (0727 UTC) Wednesday morning.
The Starlink 6-29 mission was originally slated for 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 UTC) on Tuesday night, but SpaceX delayed it to 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 UTC) and then to 2:27 a.m. EST (0727 UTC). There are two more launch opportunities Wednesday morning, with the last one set at 2:59 a.m. EST (0759 UTC).
The Falcon 9 rocket was lifted upright at Space Launch Complex 40 shortly before 10 p.m. EST (0300 UTC), a much later schedule than expected. The previous mission from pad 40 lifted off just four days earlier, making this the seventh fastest turnaround attempt for the launch facility, if the current launch time sticks.
U.S. Space Force meteorologists at the 45th Weather squadron said Monday weather conditions would be 90-percent favorable at the time of the first opportunity, with chances dropping slightly to 75-percent at the end of the launch window.
After liftoff, the Falcon 9 will journey on a south-easterly trajectory aiming for an orbit inclined 43 degrees to the Equator. Following nearly two and a half minutes of burning its nine Merlin 1D engines, the first stage will separate from the second stage and continue downrange to land on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean, about 424 miles (682 km) from the launch site.
Meanwhile, the single vacuum Merlin engine of the second stage will ignite for about six minutes to reach a parking orbit. After coasting for about 45 minutes, the second-stage engine will re-ignite for a two-second burn to refine the orbit, followed by deployment of the 23 V2 Mini Starlink satellites at about one hour and five minutes after launch.
This launch will be SpaceX’s 87th orbital launch of the year and the 276th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket to date.
Spaceflight Now’s live coverage of the launch will start about an hour before liftoff. You can also watch 24-7 views of launch pads at the Cape in our Launch Pad Live stream.
