Update 8:30 pm EDT: SpaceX scrubs mission due to bad weather; Target Friday to start.
SpaceX pulled off a Falcon 9 launch Thursday night. Central and South Florida are affected by thunderstorms and heavy tropical rain expected to last several days.
Liftoff of the Starlink 10-2 mission is now set for Friday at 4:35 pm EDT (2035 UTC). The Falcon 9 rocket will carry 22 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on the 44th dedicated Starlink mission of the year.
The mission marks the 61st Falcon 9 flight for the company in 2024, tying the total number of orbital launches achieved in 2022. SpaceFlight Now will broadcast live one hour prior to launch.
Heading into Thursday’s launch opportunity, the 45th Weather Squadron predicted about a 25 percent chance of favorable weather during the new launch window.
Meteorologists have expressed concerns about the potential for violations of anvil clouds, cumulus clouds, and surface electric fields, all of which factor in the possibility of lightning if the rocket is launched under low conditions.
A forecast for a 24-hour backup window, minus the law of surface electric fields, presents similar meteorological concerns. The opening of the Friday window starts at 40 percent favorable to start and is 80 percent favorable by the end of the window.
The mission was delayed from Wednesday for reasons that SpaceX did not disclose. On Wednesday afternoon, SpaceX pushed the planned 5:20 p.m. launch to the end of the evening launch window, ultimately scrubbing the mission into the afternoon. At the time, it was clear that preparations were running behind schedule as the vertical launch pad structure did not lift in time for the rocket launch.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting the mission, B1073, will be the 16th launch in the SpaceX fleet. It previously supported the launches of ispace’s HAKUTO-R lunar lander, the Bandwagon-1 rideshare mission and 10 previous Starlink missions.
Eight minutes after liftoff, B1073 will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘read instructions.’ This is the 84th landing by this unmanned ship and the 319th booster landing till date.
The mission comes at a busy time for SpaceX and NASA. This week, the two are holding in-person meetings with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other federal agencies to inform the public and get feedback on SpaceX’s plan to launch Starship missions from Launch Complex 39A (LC). -39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
SpaceX recently shipped the last two tower segments with chopstick arms for its second Starship tower to its Starbase facility in South Texas.
