SpaceX launches Starlink mission with Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now

Update 5:03 PM EST (2203 UTC): Added first stage booster information.

SpaceX is preparing for its final two Falcon 9 launches in November, using launch pads in Florida and California.

First up is the Starlink 6-65 mission, which will likely add another 24 Starlink satellites to the company’s rapidly growing mega-constellation. Launch is scheduled for no earlier than midnight (05:00 UTC) on November 30th.

Spaceflight Now’s live broadcast begins about an hour before launch.



At the start of the midnight mission, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast an 85 percent chance of favorable weather at launch, citing dense clouds and gusty winds as potential concerns.

“(Rainfall) is expected to occur through the main launch window at midnight, but the question of clouds remains,” launch weather officers wrote in their forecast. “Most models still show extensive post-frontal cloud cover, potentially flirting with freezing and thus becoming a problem for launch weather.

“Factors at play include how quickly surface winds swing from the north-northeast, increasing post-frontal inversion.” The most problematic cloud decks will advance south through the window, although a low stratocumulus deck is likely to remain becomes. Post-frontal winds will also be a point of observation, although the strongest winds will occur at speeds several hours ahead of the window while remaining breezy and easing into late night.”

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1083 in the SpaceX fleet, will launch for the sixth time. Previously, launches were supported by Crew-8, Polaris Dawn, CRS-31 and two Starlink missions.

Just over eight minutes after launch, B1083 will land on the SpaceX Just Read the Instructions drone ship. If successful, this would be the 100th booster landing for JRTI and the 376th booster landing to date.

SpaceX is ready to launch another Falcon 9 rocket about three hours after the Starlink 6-65 mission. The NROL-126 mission is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

This will be the latest flight for the National Reconnaissance Office under what it calls its “proliferated architecture.” This launch’s payload, believed to be the government variant of the Starlink satellites called “Starshield,” will be the fifth such batch to be launched this year.