Updated at 8:58pm EDT: SpaceX changed the mission’s launch time to the new T-0 at 10:21 PM EDT (0221 UTC).
Updated at 7:52pm EDT: SpaceX has scheduled T-0’s launch for 9:31 p.m. EDT (0131 UTC). Beyond this point, SpaceX has three more launch opportunities to launch its Starlink 6-13 mission on Thursday.
Updated at 7:05pm ET: SpaceX has postponed the T-0 launch to 8:40 pm EDT (12:40 am UTC September 1). SpaceX said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that its launch team is closely monitoring Hurricane Idalia’s impact on the Cape.
Original story:
SpaceX is preparing its Falcon 9 rocket for its 60th orbital launch this year. The Starlink Group 6-13 mission is targeted for launch by 7:52 PM EDT (2352 UTC) on Thursday, August 31, and will send 22 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit.
With this launch and another flight from California, SpaceX is on track to break its record of 61 missions set in 2022.
According to an analysis company blythe tech, SpaceX continues to dominate the launch market. In his first two quarters of the year, SpaceX recorded his 43 orbital launches. This is only 10 compared to his 53 launches by all other launch providers around the world during the same period.
In other words, SpaceX launched a spacecraft mass of 447,209 kg during the first two quarters. The next closest was China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which launched 47,034 kg during the same period.
SpaceX was poised to tie its 2022 launch record to a mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base that was scheduled to launch Thursday morning. But an engine problem with one of the Falcon 9’s Merlin engines ruined what was supposed to be two launches for SpaceX.
The company currently aims to launch its mission on behalf of the U.S. Space Development Agency by 7:26 a.m. PDT (10:26 a.m. EDT, 1426 UTC) on Friday, September 1. So far, no updates have been provided on the status of the engine problem. Another Starlink mission is scheduled for Sunday at the Cape.
Weather conditions could also prevent Starlink’s launch from Florida on Thursday night. The 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station predicted there was only a 20 percent chance of good weather at the start of the launch window.
These odds improve to 60% by the end of the window, which ends at 11:29 PM ET (3:29 AM UTC September 1). There are 5 backup opportunities within that period, and 6 more backup opportunities the next day.
The booster supporting the Starlink 6-13 mission (tail number B1077) previously flew six missions, including the Crew 5 mission. SpaceX’s drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas, will land in the Atlantic Ocean.
Another Florida-based SpaceX drone ship, Just Read the Instructions, was evacuated earlier in the day in the Bahamas as Hurricane Idalia passed through Florida and headed north up the East Coast. The ship called at Port Canaveral.