SpaceX will launch Falcon 9 rocket on record-breaking 17th flight – Spaceflight Now

Updated 10:19 PM EST:

SpaceX has adjusted the launch time for the Starlink 6-17 mission. The new T-0 liftoff time is now 11:38 PM EDT (0338 UTC). The next available liftoff time will be 12:28 a.m. EDT (0428 UTC) on September 20.

Original story:

SpaceX will push the limits of booster reusability Tuesday night with the scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 rocket using a first-stage rocket that makes its 17th flight. Liftoff from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral with 22 Starlink satellites is scheduled for 10:47 p.m. EDT (0247 UTC).

Support serial number 1060 will make a record 17th flight for the Starlink 6-17 mission. Earlier this year, SpaceX certified its fleet of Falcon 9 first stage boosters for up to 20 flights.

The booster first flew in June 2020 carrying the GPS 3-3 satellite for the US Space Force and continues to fly the Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34 and Transporter-6 missions, as well as 11 Starlink missions. Air flights.

Space Force meteorologists are watching closely as a weather front stalls just south of Florida’s Space Coast and a storm brews offshore in the Atlantic Ocean. In forecasts issued on Monday, they expected the weather to be 60 percent acceptable at launch. The main concern is the violation of the cumulus cloud rule. As a coastal storm develops, conditions deteriorate if the launch is delayed by a day, with only a 30 percent chance of acceptable weather.

This will be the 20th launch of the so-called V2 mini Starlink satellites, which are larger and have four times the bandwidth of previous versions. The full-sized V2 Starlink satellites are scheduled to be launched by SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship vehicle, but Starship’s delayed debut has led to the company creating a condensed version of the satellites so they can be launched on a Falcon 9.