Adverse weather in Atlantic forces SpaceX to scrub launch of Starlink satellites

Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Citing unfavorable booster recovery weather in the Atlantic, SpaceX on Wednesday scrubbed its planned launch of another batch of Starlink satellites.

In a post on X , SpaceX said it is rescheduling the launch for Thursday.

The launch window will open at 8:35 a.m. and extend until after 1 p.m. local time.

The space company had targeted liftoff for seven minutes after noon eastern time. The launch was to carry 21 new Starlink satellites from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Instead, though, launch recovery efforts in the Atlantic were complicated by adverse weather.

Brevard County Emergency Management Office posted shortly after noon that it had "deactivated" its launch operations support team, in response to the scrub.

Before the scrub, there had been a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions, according to the 45th Weather Squadron.

Of the 21 satellites on this mission, 13 have "direct to cell" capability as have had about half of the satellites in other previous successful missions that were put into low-Earth orbit.

The mission, dubbed Starlink 8-11, will mark the 7,000th Starlink satellite launched to date, according to statistics compiled by an astronomer.

This mission will be the 15th flight for the first-stage rocket booster supporting this mission. It previously launched Crew-5, GPS III Space Vehicle 06, Inmarsat I6-F2, CRS-28, Intelsat G-37, NG-20 and eight other Starlink missions.

Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the "Just Read The Instructions" droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, when the weather cooperates and seas are calmer.

On Saturday, SpaceX carried out back-to-back launches of Falcon 9 rockets carrying Starlink satellites into orbit just hours after U.S. officials lifted a temporary ban on the rocket fleet.

The 3:43 a.m. launch was followed about an hour later with another Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Thursday's rescheduled mission, if successful, will bring the total number of DTC Starlink satellites in orbit up to 194 launched to date.

Since Tuesday, Starlink's services has been available in the Solomon Islands, a nation comprising 21 islands to Australia's northeast, according to the company.

SpaceX had previously said its goal was to launch an average of 12 Falcon rockets per month at ideally 144 launches for this year alone. Company officials had previously claim they are still on track to meet their targets.

The company in July had deployed 20 Starlink satellite launches that already had several others in the cluster.

That launch saw the placement of wireless Internet in Madagascar which was followed weeks later with expansions in Botswana, Ghana and other nations on the African continent.

In May, SpaceX lifted a series of 23 other Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit, at the time the company's third liftoff in two days by that point.