Starlink, a Mission Launched from Vandenberg Space Force Station, Rounds Up SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Double Launch Day
SpaceX launched 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites from the West Coast, 13 of which have Direct to Cell capabilities, to finish off another successful twin launch day.
At 8:47 p.m. PDT (11:47 p.m. EDT, 0347 UTC), the Starlink 9-2 mission was launched. It happened after 22 Starlink satellites were launched from Florida on Sunday at 1:15 p.m. EDT (1715 UTC).
For the eleventh time, the SpaceX fleet’s first stage booster, tail number B1075, launched in support of this mission. It has previously assisted with the launches of eight Starlink flights, the German military’s SARah 2 and 3 surveillance satellites, and the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 0 demonstration satellite mission.
This booster was last used on March 19, nearly a century ago, during the Starlink 7-16 mission.
After taking off, B1075 touched down on the SpaceX droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” a little over eight minutes later. This will be the 322nd booster landing and the 94th landing on OCISLY overall.
SpaceX and NASA are getting ready to launch a Falcon Heavy rocket on the GOES-U mission, which is the last satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R (GOES-R) series, at the same time as the mission is underway. The rocket’s Sunday morning rollout to Launch Complex 39A’s launchpad was postponed.
Teams are closely monitoring the weather for launch and deployment activities. As of right now, the mission is scheduled to launch on Tuesday, June 25, at 5:16 p.m. EDT (2116 UTC).
There is only a 30% likelihood of favorable weather during liftoff on both the primary launch day, June 26, and the 24-hour backup, June 26, according to the most recent weather forecast, which was released on Sunday, June 23.