CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — After dealing with some poor weather, SpaceX was able to launch more than 20 Starlink satellites on Wednesday night.


What You Need To Know

  • The Falcon 9 rocket left from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

Sending up the Starlink 6-61 mission was a SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket that took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX.

For Wednesday's launch, the liftoff happened at 5:47 p.m. ET, but the mission had backup opportunities available until 9:23 p.m. ET., SpaceX stated.

The 45th Weather Squadron gave an 85% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule.

Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

The launch window was also going to be Monday at 6:40 p.m. ET, but it was pushed back to 7:38 p.m. ET, before being scrapped all together. There is no official word as to why that happened.

For Tuesday's attempt, the launch window opened at 6:56 p.m. ET and was supposed to close at 10:14 p.m. ET. However, unfavorable recovery conditions forced a scrub on Tuesday night.

Taking off

Old Falcon 9’s first-stage booster for this mission, B1073, has seen 17 missions before this launch. And one of these missions includes ispace — a private Japanese space company — and NASA’s lunar mission.

After the stage separation, it landed on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

The Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will have 23 of its satellites going to low-Earth orbit.

These satellites provide internet service to many parts of the globe.

Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics’ Dr. Jonathan McDowell has been documenting Starlink satellites.

Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

  • 6,473 are in orbit
  • 6,150 are in operational orbit

Anthony Leone - Digital Media Producer

Anthony has a long career as an editor and reporter for newspapers and news websites. He has covered general and breaking news, crime, and politics. In addition, he also covers space and rocket launches, where he has won awards for this coverage.

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