Sept. 4 (UPI) — SpaceX is targeting early Wednesday afternoon to launch another batch of Starlink satellites in its work to expand wireless Internet around the globe to untouched places, according to sources.
The space company has targeted 12:07 p.m. ET on Wednesday for the liftoff of 21 new Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
A live webcast of the mission will begin about five minutes prior to liftoff.
A backup liftoff time of 12:59 p.m. is looked at and, if needed, an additional launch opportunity is being looked at for 8:35 a.m. ET on Thursday the next day.
There is a 70% chance of favorable weather conditions for liftoff with a likely presence of cumulus and anvil clouds., according to the 45th Weather Squadron.
Of the 21 satellites, 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, if successful will mark the 7,000th Starlink satellite launched to date, according to statistics compiled by an astronomer.
A Falcon 9 rocket with tail number B1077 will deploy Wednesday’s new batch of 21 Starlink Internet satellites packed inside the fairing atop the 230-foot rocket.
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.
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.
Wednesday’s 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, an 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.
