SpaceX launches 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
Update 12:29 a.m. EST (0529 UTC): SpaceX landed the first stage booster on its droneship.
SpaceX completed the first of its two final Falcon 9 launches of November, using launch pads in both Florida and California.
The Starlink 6-65 mission, which will add another 24 Starlink satellites to the company’s rapidly growing mega-constellation, lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at midnight (0500 UTC) on Nov. 30.
Heading into the midnight mission, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast an 85 percent chance for favorable weather at liftoff, citing thick clouds along with gusty winds as potential concerns.
“[Precipitation] is expected to be done heading into the primary launch window at midnight, but the question of clouds remains,” launch weather officers wrote in their forecast. “Most models still show an extensive post-frontal cloud deck hanging around, potentially flirting with the freezing level, and thus becoming a launch weather concern.
“Factors that play into this will also include how quickly winds above the surface swing out of the north-northeast and reinforce the post-frontal inversion. The most problematic cloud decks will push south through the window, though a low-topped stratocumulus deck will likely remain. Post-frontal winds will also be a watch item, though the strongest winds will occur a few hours ahead of the window with speeds, while remaining breezy, diminishing through the late night.”
The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1083 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for a sixth time. It previously supported the launches of Crew-8, Polaris Dawn, CRS-31 and two Starlink missions.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1083 landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions.’ The successful booster touchdown marked the 100th booster landing for JRTI and the 376th booster landing to date.
SpaceX is poised to launch another Falcon 9 rocket as soon as about three hours after the Starlink 6-65 mission. The NROL-126 mission is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
This will be the latest flight for the National Reconnaissance Office as part of what it calls its proliferated architecture. The payload on this launch, believed to be the government variant of Starlink satellites, called ‘Starshield,’ will be the fifth such batch launched this year.
