UPDATE #2: Thursday’s update; SpaceX is targeting Friday evening for a Falcon 9 rocket launch, more than 12 hours after it plans to launch a crew of astronauts to the International Space Station.
SpaceX confirmed Thursday it was planning a Starlink launch for 9:30 p.m. from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch would put another batch of Starlink satellites into orbit for SpaceX’s internet network.
After the first stage of the rocket separates, it is expected to return to Earth and land on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
The forecast from the 45th Space Wing said the weather is 90% “go” for launch. There are backup launch opportunities until about 11:29 p.m. that night.
This is the second launch SpaceX has planned for Friday. SpaceX intends to send its Crew-7 team to the International Space Station atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center Friday morning at 3:50 a.m.
UPDATE #1: Update: (Wednesday, August 23) SpaceX teams at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station have rescheduled the next Falcon 9 Starlink mission originally slated to fly Wednesday night to no earlier than Friday, August 25, during a window from 9:13 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. EDT as indicated by updated Space Force launch weather forecasts.
The company has not confirmed the existence of the mission or provided any reason for rescheduling, but at nearby Kennedy Space Center, teams are readying for the launch of NASA’s Crew-7 mission aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 slated for liftoff at 3:49 a.m., Friday, August 25.
(Tuesday, August 22): SpaceX reschedules Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral to Wednesday. Late Tuesday afternoon, August 22, according to new federal filings, SpaceX teams have rescheduled the liftoff of the company’s next Falcon 9 Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to Wednesday, August 23.
If schedules hold, this would become the Space Coast’s 43rd launch this year.
The launch is set to occur during a four-hour launch window from 8:47 p.m. EDT until 12:46 a.m. EDT.
Space Force forecasters projected the weather conditions to be 75% chance of “go” favorable conditions around the Cape.