SpaceX scrubs launch, will try Wednesday to match Space Coast record
The Space Coast could see its 72nd launch of the year on Wednesday night equaling the total number of orbital missions flown in 2023.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 had been aiming for a Tuesday liftoff, but weather forced a scrub. It’s now targeting 5:47 p.m. Wednesday during a window that runs through 9:23 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 with 23 Starlink satellites.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts an 80% chance for good launch conditions Wednesday night.
The first-stage booster for this mission is making its 18th flight with a planned recovery landing downrange on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Including this mission, SpaceX will have flown all but five of the 72 launches from either Canaveral or neighboring Kennedy Space Center. Of those, 65 have been the workhorse Falcon 9 while Elon Musk’s company has only use two Falcon Heavy rockets this year.
United Launch Alliance has been responsible for the rest flying two of its new Vulcan Centaur rockets, two Atlas V’s and the final Delta IV Heavy.