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Update 2:24 p.m. EDT (1824 UTC):
SpaceX goals to interrupt one other re-flight record on Friday evening with the launch of 23 more Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 booster making its 18th flight.
The Starlink 6-26 mission is about to launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 8:37 p.m. EDT (0037 UTC on Nov. 4). It is going to send 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites as much as low Earth orbit, which is able to bring the full Starlink satellites launched in 2023 as much as 1,711.
If needed, there are three backup opportunities from 9:01 p.m. until 10:22 p.m. EDT (0101-0222 UTC). There are also eight additional launch slots on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 4.
Spaceflight Now’s live coverage of the launch will start about one hour prior to launch.
The forty fifth Weather Squadron based at Patrick Space Force Base yesterday forecast an 80 percent favorable likelihood of liftoff on Friday, citing cumulus clouds and liftoff winds as potential watch items. Weather degrades barely on Saturday, offering 75 percent favorable conditions.
The booster on deck for this sunset mission, tail number B1058, is the oldest, currently flying Falcon 9 booster. It first flew on May 30, 2020, launching former NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station on the Demo-2 mission. This was the primary flight of the Industrial Crew Program with astronauts on board. SpaceX has since flown seven crew rotation missions as much as the orbiting outpost, along with two private astronaut missions.
Following liftoff, the booster will land on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas,’ about eight-and-a-half minutes into the mission.
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As SpaceX continues working towards adding Dragon capabilities to SLC-40 with a brand new crew access tower, Friday night’s mission will mark the 152nd orbital launch for the corporate because it began using the launch pad. This will likely be the 207th overall launch from this site.
While SpaceX prepares to launch its 52nd Starlink launch of the 12 months, it’s also working towards one other mission over at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. On Thursday, NASA announced one other two-day slip to the launch. It’s the third time the mission has been delayed as a result of a difficulty with one among the Draco thrusters on the Cargo Dragon that can fly the mission. Launch was previously scheduled for Nov. 3, 5 and seven.
“In the course of the initial propellant load in preparation for the CRS-29 mission, teams identified a leak of NTO (nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer) in a Draco thruster valve, which per standard procedure required a pause to the operation to troubleshoot,” NASA said in a press release. “The team inspected the valve and respective data, and decided to interchange the thruster.”
The twenty ninth SpaceX mission for the Industrial Resupply Services program is currently targeting launch at 8:28 p.m. EST on Nov. 9 (0128 UTC on Nov. 10).
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