CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — SpaceX launched more than 20 Starlink satellites early Sunday evening, a not-so-rare sight in the Sunshine State skies. 

What You Need To Know

  • More than 20 Starlink satellites were launched

  • It will take off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

The Falcon 9 rocket took off with the Starlink 6-54 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX. 

The launch window opened at 6:08 p.m. ET. It was originally set to start at 5:50 p.m. ET and it close four hours later. SpaceX did not state why it delayed the launch.

The 45th Weather Squadron gave an 80% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the thick cloud layers and cumulus cloud rules.

If there was a scrub, the next launch attempt would have been Monday at 5:25 p.m. ET.

Going up

This was lucky (unlucky?) mission 13 for the Falcon 9's first-stage booster B1076. Before this baker’s dozen launch, the booster had 12 missions to its name:

  1. CRS-26
  2. OneWeb Flight 16
  3. Intelsat IS-40e
  4. Starlink Group 6-1 mission
  5. Starlink Group 6-3 mission
  6. Starlink Group 6-6 mission
  7. Starlink Group 6-14 mission
  8. Starlink Group 6-21 mission
  9. SES O3B-mPOWER
  10. Ovzon-3
  11. Starlink Group 6-40 mission
  12. Eutelsat 36D

After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that was in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

The 23 telecommunications satellites from the SpaceX-company Starlink will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites.

Before this launch, McDowell documented the following:

  • 5,874 are in orbit
  • 5,214 are in operational orbit

-

Facebook Twitter