Update Sept. 25, 4 a.m. EDT (0800 UTC): SpaceX landed its booster on the droneship.
SpaceX was back at the launch pad Thursday morning, launching its 86th Starlink mission of the year so far.
The Starlink 10-15 flight will add another 28 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to the growing megaconstellation of more than 8,400 currently on orbit. SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 4:39 a.m. EDT (0839 UTC).
Heading into the launch opportunity, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90 percent chance for favorable weather. Meteorologists said there was a chance for interference from “some mid and upper level clouds,” but noted that a “drying trend” was persisting Thursday morning.
SpaceX launched this mission using the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number B1080. It’s one of SpaceX’s more often used boosters, which made its 22nd flight on this mission.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff B1080 completed an autonomous landing on the drone ship, A Shortfall of Gravitas. This was the 126th recovery for this drone ship and the 511th booster landing for SpaceX, if all goes well.
The 28 Starlink satellites onboard the rocket will be deployed about an hour and 4 minutes after liftoff.
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