SpaceX is preparing to launch another batch of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. A Falcon 9 rocket will carry 22 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit after launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) is set for 9:20 a.m. EDT (1320 UTC), which is the end of a four-hour launch window. The Starlink 10-5 mission is the 57th launch of the internet enabling satellites so far in 2024.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
Heading into the launch opportunity, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast an 80 percent chance of favorable weather at liftoff. The primary concerns are cumulus and thick clouds. If needed, the 24-hour backup opportunity, which opens at 4:58 a.m. EDT (0858 UTC), is 85 percent favorable at liftoff.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, B1085 in the SpaceX fleet, will be launching for the first time. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, it will touchdown on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’
If successful, this will be the 80th landing on ASOG and the 341st booster landing to date. The Starlink 10-5 mission will mark the 59th launch from Florida this year and the 153rd global, orbital launch.
The rocket, which is slated to launch the Crew 9 mission for NASA in September, was put through a static fire test Monday night. Back in late July, Steve Stich, NASA’s manager of the Commercial Crew Program, said the booster encountered moisture intrusion as it was delivered by road from Texas to Florida.
“There was some moisture that went into the fuel in the [liquid oxygen] tank of that booster when it was transported from McGregor to the Cape. The desiccant system didn’t perform the way it was supposed to,” Stich said. “That desiccant system is supposed to keep that air dry and so, it didn’t perform the way it was supposed to. So we had to dry those tanks out and then replace a few components on the vehicle.”
Following the Starlink 10-5 mission, B1085 will be readied for the Crew-9 launch, targeting launch no earlier than Sept. 24, 2024, from pad 40.
SpaceX test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral this evening ahead of a Starlink delivery mission scheduled for no earlier than tomorrow morning. The booster, which suffered moisture intrusion during transport to Florida, is also slated to launch the Crew 9 mission in… pic.twitter.com/N8pi6a8Rz4
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) August 19, 2024
