SpaceX announced on Friday afternoon it is targeting its next Starlink satellite launch for Saturday, May 15.
The Falcon 9 launch from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida is pegged for 3:54pm PDT/6:54pm EDT, and the daytime launch looks to put on a show for fans of the launches.
SpaceX says the “team is keeping an eye on recovery weather conditions,” referring to its autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean, where Falcon 9 core B1058 is expected to land on.
Targeting Saturday, May 15 at 6:54 p.m. EDT for launch of the next Starlink mission from Florida; team is keeping an eye on recovery weather conditions https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 14, 2021
This will be the eight flight and landing attempt for this Falcon 9 booster, which previously launched the NASA Demo-2 crewed mission (sending NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station), ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1 and other Starlink missions. Its most recent flight was on April 7, 2021, the Starlink 23 mission.
SpaceX says “one half of Falcon 9’s fairing previously supported the SXM-7 mission, and the other previously supported the NROL-108 mission.”
This launch won’t just have Starlink satellites though. There will be a Capella Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, and Tyvak-0130 joining 52 Starlink satellites.
The backup launch date is set for Sunday, May 16 at 6:33 p.m. EDT, or 22:33 UTC.
SpaceX will again share a live webcast roughly 15 minutes before liftoff.
