A SpaceX rocket was attempting to launch 22 Starlink internet satellites from Florida on Friday afternoon (June 14) but the attempt was cancelled at the last minute.
SpaceX’s booster is a workhorse Falcon 9 rocket that has flown 15 times before, but the launch was aborted at 5:07 p.m. EDT (9:07 p.m. GMT) on Pad 40 at the Space Launch Complex at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station while its nine first-stage engines were igniting.
“Cancel, cancel,” a SpaceX launch commentator said at the company’s press conference. Live Stream with X (Formerly Twitter).
CANCELLED! @SpaceX cancels launch of 22 Starlink satellites at last minute from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. pic.twitter.com/r7ebUJdw1FJune 14, 2024
It’s unclear what caused the unusual launch cancellation of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket or when the company will resume launching Starlink satellite missions. There is a four-hour window for today’s launch, with a similar window available starting Saturday (June 15) at 4:07 p.m. EDT (2007 GMT).
“Today’s Falcon 9 launch is canceled. A new launch date will be announced when it is determined,” SpaceX said. Written in the X mission update.
Whether SpaceX attempts to launch on Saturday will depend on the nature of the glitch that caused Friday’s launch to be halted and how quickly it is resolved. Starlink launches have been postponed twice before, on June 12 and 13, because of bad weather.
Related: How to track SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in the night sky
The launch marks SpaceX’s 60th rocket launch of 2024 and the 16th flight of the Falcon 9 first stage, which “previously launched SES-22, ispace’s HAKUTO-R MISSION 1, Amazonas-6, CRS-27, Bandwagon-1 and 10 Starlink missions,” SpaceX wrote. In mission updateThe Falcon 9 stage will land on a SpaceX drone ship at sea off the coast of Florida and will be reused later.
Ten of the booster’s missions so far have carried Starlink satellites into orbit as part of SpaceX’s project to build a mega-constellation network that can provide high-speed internet access anywhere on Earth. That constellation currently consists of: Approx. 6,100 According to satellite trackers, Starlink satellites are operational.
Of the roughly 60 missions SpaceX has launched so far this year, 45 of them have been dedicated to carrying Starlink satellites. The company is averaging a rocket launch every 2.7 days so far this year.