SpaceX stood down on April 1 from a planned Falcon 9 rocket launch Tuesday night of 27 Starlink smallsats to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A reason for the delay was not announced.
Starlink smallsats are part of a smallsat constellation to be created in space to provide internet access worldwide. This will be the 25th Starlink flight of the year.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base is now targeting Thursday, April 3, at 3:54 pm PT (7:54 pm ET, 2354 UTC).
The forecast calls for a temperature of 55°F, broken clouds, 79% cloud cover and a wind speed of 20mph.
SpaceX to launch Starlink Group 11-13 smallsats on April Fool’s day from California
SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, April 1 for a Falcon 9 launch of 27 Starlink smallsats to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Starlink smallsats are part of a smallsat constellation to be created in space to provide internet access worldwide. Liftoff is targeted for 4:39 p.m. PT, with backup opportunities available until 8:39 p.m. PT. If needed, additional launch opportunities are also available on Wednesday, April 2 starting at 4:16 p.m. PT.
A live webcast of this mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff, which you can watch on X @SpaceX. You can also watch the webcast on the new X TV app.
This is the fifth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NROL-126, Transporter-12, SPHEREx, and NROL-57. Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship, which will be stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
There is the possibility that residents of Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties may hear one or more sonic booms during the launch, but what residents experience will depend on weather and other conditions.