SpaceX scrubbed a launch of its Starlink satellites this weekend on account of a difficulty with certainly one of its rockets.
The corporate was scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket containing 23 of its Starlink satellites on Sunday (Nov. 3) from House Launch Advanced 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral House Power Station in Florida, however SpaceX held the countdown at two minutes and 36 seconds on account of what seems to be a helium leak.
“Maintain, maintain, maintain. Standing down for helium, stage one,” a SpaceX group member referred to as out throughout the stay broadcast of the deliberate launch on X (previously Twitter). A brand new launch date has not been set for the mission, designated Starlink 6-77. SpaceX has one other Falcon 9 rocket launch deliberate for Monday (Nov. 4), the CRS-31 robotic resupply flight to the Worldwide House Station (ISS), at present set for 9:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT on Tuesday, Nov. 5).
When the Starlink 6-77 mission does launch, its Falcon 9 first stage booster will come again down and land on the Simply Learn the Directions droneship ready offshore within the Atlantic Ocean.
That is the third scheduled flight for this specific booster, which additionally launched the Crew-9 astronaut mission for NASA.
That launch noticed simply two astronauts fly to the ISS in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft versus the standard 4; two seats have been left empty to make room for 2 NASA astronauts at present aboard the ISS whose spacecraft, Boeing’s Starliner capsule, landed uncrewed in September 2024 on account of security considerations after a rocky first crewed flight.
The Starlink 6-77 mission and different Starlink launches prefer it are all geared toward constructing out SpaceX’s huge megaconstellation of broadband web satellites. The corporate has already launched 100 Falcon 9 rockets in 2024, and nearly all of them have been devoted to placing extra Starlink spacecraft in orbit.
SpaceX at present operates shut to six,500 Starlink satellites in orbit and has plans to loft hundreds extra. The satellites have been used to supply important communications to hard-hit areas following pure disasters comparable to Hurricane Helene or within the wake of conflicts comparable to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
However many astronomers have voiced their considerations concerning the ever-growing Starlink megaconstellation and others prefer it, citing environmental impacts, the satellites’ results on astronomy, and the optical interference they create within the evening sky.
