A SpaceX Falcon 9 mission that was set to carry 60 Starlink satellites to orbit today has been scrubbed due to a “recovery issues.” The launch provider has confirmed that the next available launch window will open at 17:57 UTC on Friday.
The thirteenth Starlink mission was set to be launched from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 18:19 UTC on September 17. However, the launch was scrubbed within an hour of liftoff due to a “recovery issue.”
Although SpaceX did not clarify what the issue was specifically, it is presumably associated with either the Just Read the Instructions booster recovery droneship, or the Ms.Tree and Ms. Chief fairing recovery ships.
Following the launch being scrubbed, SpaceX confirmed on Twitter that the next available launch window would open on Friday, September 18 at 17:57 UTC. However, the company stressed that it was keeping an eye on the weather, which is currently only 30% favourable for a launch.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster (B1058) set to be used for the thirteenth Starlink mission is flight-proven. It was previously used to support the maiden crewed Dragon mission in May and the ANASIS-II mission in July.
In addition to it being the third mission for the booster, the flight will also be the first to be launched with a fairing half that is also supporting its third mission. According to a SpaceX tweet, one of the two fairing halves enclosing the 60 Starlink satellites was used to support Falcon 9 missions in May 2019 and March 2020.
