ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX doesn’t take the weekend off, at least on the Space Coast with a Starlink launch on Saturday and one pushed from Sunday now to Tuesday.
First up from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A was a Falcon 9 launch with 34 Starlink satellites and a satellite for company AST SpaceMobile. Liftoff was at 9:20 p.m. EDT.
The booster on the mission had previously flown 13 times and was able to make a record 14th successful launch and landing, this time on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean.
Originally targeting Sunday but now Tuesday night, a second Starlink mission is on tap, but from Canaveral SFS’s Space Launch Complex 40.
Liftoff is aiming for 10:10 p.m. with a Wednesday backup at 9:48 p.m.
If both lift off, it will mark 42 Falcon 9 launches for SpaceX for the year across its two Space Coast launch sites as well as Vandenberg Space Force Station in California.
To date, SpaceX has sent up 62 Starlink flights, including 27 this year, since the first operational deployment in 2019, with more than 3,200 satellites sent to orbit, according to statistics tracked by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.
The growing constellation is on target to reach its 4,408 target with about 20 more launches, although it’s looking for Federal Communications Commission approval to grow to about 30,000 with future launches on board its in-the-works Starship rocket.
SpaceX, which already blew past its then record 31 launches it had in 2021 in July, is on pace to surpass 52 launches before the end of 2022.
Its 13 KSC and 19 Canaveral launches make up the bulk of the 39 launches across all companies including United Launch Alliance and Astra Space from the Space Coast this year.
The Tuesday launch would bring that total to 40, although many are waiting for the biggest rocket launch of the year, which could come this month if NASA’s Artemis I rocket can get fixed on the launch pad at KSC, and the Space Force gives it the OK.
Also within a month could be the next human flight to the International Space Station with Crew-5 on tap from KSC in a SpaceX Crew Dragon as early as Oct. 3.
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