Update March 11, 12:50 a.m. ET: SpaceX scrubbed the launch due to high winds.
SpaceX is preparing to launch its first batch of Starlink satellites in more than a week. The planned flight comes following a fuel leak in a Falcon 9 booster caused its destruction shortly after landing.
However, high ground-level winds prevented the launch from moving forward on Monday and SpaceX is pivoting to a backup window on Tuesday night.
The launch of the Starlink 12-21 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is now set for 10:48 p.m. EDT (0248 UTC). It’s one of two planned Falcon 9 launches Tuesday night, including the ridshare launch of NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour before liftoff as part of a double-header livestream with the launch of NASA’s SPHEREx and PUNCH missions.
Heading into the Monday night launch opportunity, the 45th Weather Squadron, based at Patrick Space Force Base forecast a 60 percent chance of favorable weather during launch, citing liftoff winds as their primary concern. Launch weather officers are also tracking both the upper-level wind shear and the booster recovery weather as between low and moderate risks to the mission on a scale of low to moderate to high.
“Developing low pressure currently entering the Florida panhandle will continue to move east, dragging a cold front across the peninsula [on Monday]. Scattered showers and thunderstorms will line up along and just ahead of this boundary, with largely benign weather today giving way to windy and unsettled weather for the Space Coast [Monday],” meteorologists wrote on Sunday. “The front and associated stormy weather will move off into the Atlantic by the launch window Monday night, however winds will increase still further during the evening on the backside of this system, resulting in a very elevated threat for exceedance of wind constraints.”
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 first stage booster 1069 on this launch, which will fly for a 22nd time. Its previous missions include CRS-24, Eutelsat Hotbird 13F and 17 previous Starlink missions.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, it will target a landing on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.” If successful, it will be the 101st booster landing for ASOG and 333rd booster landing to date.
Among the 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites on the Starlink 12-21 mission are 13 that feature Direct to Cell capabilities.
source: spaceflightnow.com