SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, April 23 for a Falcon 9 launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is targeted for 6:17 p.m. ET, with backup opportunities available until 9:25 p.m. ET. If needed, additional opportunities are also available on Wednesday, April 24 starting at 5:50 p.m. ET.
A live webcast of this mission will begin on X @SpaceX about five minutes prior to liftoff. Watch live.
Though SpaceX has not publicly confirmed this mission’s existence, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency navigational warning shows a rocket launch window will open Tuesday night. No Central Florida sonic booms are expected. The $52 million launch is part of SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.
Facing a cloudy, windy Monday forecast, SpaceX is pushing back its Falcon 9 rocket launch attempt roughly 24 hours to target a Tuesday night window at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, navigational warnings show.
This is the ninth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-6, SES O3b mPOWER, USSF-124, and five Starlink missions. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Just Read the Instructions droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
A Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows:
The Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron had only forecast 30% odds of favorable conditions during the early stages of Monday’s now-scrapped launch window. However, those odds will improve to greater than 95% during Tuesday’s backup window that opens at 6:15 p.m. through 8:40 p.m. EDT,
SpaceX may have weather issues on Monday’s Starlink Group 6-53 launch
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites into LEO from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, for the Starlink mega-constellation, on Monday, April 22 from 3:40 – 7:40 PDT. However the weather forecast for tomorrow is questionable… as noted by the 45th Weather Squadron’s forecast, “all [weather models] show a lingering low level cloud deck that may be just deep enough to pose launch weather concerns. The main weather threat has shifted towards the northerly wind surge driven by the gradient around the departing low. Consensus is that winds will be highest at the beginning of the primary launch window Monday evening, with speeds slowly subsiding through the window.”
As a result, mission managers will be dealing with low clouds and high winds, especially in the early hours of the launch window, with improving conditions as the evening progresses.
Landing is planned to be on the autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS) ‘Just Read The Instructions’ (JRTI) which is stationed in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of the Bahamas.
SpaceX to launch Starlink satellite Group 6-53 on Monday
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites into LEO from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, for the Starlink mega-constellation, on Monday, April 22 from 3:40 – 7:40 PDT.
The $52 million launch is part of SpaceX’s project for space-based Internet communication system.
Weather forecast calls for a temperature of 69°F, broken clouds, 75% cloud cover and a wind speed of 24mph.
Space Launch Complex 40 has witnessed the launch of 236 rockets, including 236 orbital launch attempts, while Cape Canaveral, FL, USA, has been the site for 947 rocket launches.