| Advertisement |
May 27 (UPI) -- SpaceX's planned launch of 23 Starlink Internet satellites from Cape Canaveral into low-Earth orbit on Monday from Florida was delayed until Tuesday. The launch from Complex 40 was expected to take off at about 11:29 a.m., marking the 10th flight for the first stage booster being used. That stage is expected to return to Earth and land on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean about eight minutes after launch.
Advertisement
The new four-hour launch window begins at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.
No reason was given by the private company for the delay but Florida Today reported heavy marine traffic in the area. Weather conditions for the launch window are predicted to be 90%, according to the 45th Weather Squadron.
SpaceX will broadcast the launch.
The mission, expected to be SpaceX's 55th Falcon 9 launch of the year, will increase the company average launch rate at one every 2.7 days.
Bill Gerstenmaier, vice president of build and flight reliability at SpaceX, told Congress last October that the company has a goal of 144 launches in 2024. The current place it at 135, according to SpaceFlightNow.com.
However, the next flight would be SpaceX's 12 flight this time, tying it with the most March and April monthly highs, indicating the company's increased effort in reaching their 2024 goal.
Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX's vice president of launch, said on X last week that he believes the company still has a shot at 14 launches this month.
