Oct. 23 (UPI) — SpaceX will try again to launch a new batch of 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Center on Wednesday, after liftoff the day before was scrubbed due to weather.
When it happens, it will be SpaceX’s 72nd launch this year, tying a one-year space launch record the company established in 2023. Elon Musk’s space business will attempt to rewrite the record books again in November with new launches.
The new launch is set for 5:47 p.m. EDT with a backup time of 9:23 p.m., according to SpaceX.
SpaceX said that weather in the recovery area, where the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas is located in the Atlantic Ocean for the Falcon 9 Stage1 booster return, was not optimal and scrubbed the mission.
Weather officials said that Tropical Storm Oscar in the Atlantic Ocean caused concern because of cumulus clouds and stronger-than-usual launch winds.
“The breezy, onshore flow will persist this week as the combination of a strong high centered to north and Tropical Storm Oscar to the southeast enhance the pressure gradient over the Florida peninsula,” meteorologists said, according to SpaceFlightNow.com.
“In this pattern, scattered showers will continue to move onshore from the Atlantic, but dry mid-level air will cap off any significant vertical development.”
The launch is the latest in SpaceX’s mission to create an Internet constellation that would allow users to log into Internet service regardless of where they are in the world.
