SpaceX is preparing to launch a batch of 28 of its Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit minutes before sunrise on Thursday morning.
It’s targeting the liftoff of its Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 10-20 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:47 a.m. EDT (1047 UTC). This will be the 69th orbital launch from Florida so far this year.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90 percent chance of favorable weather conditions for liftoff during the four-hour launch window. Meteorologists said on Wednesday that they only had slight concerns with interference from “any sneaky cumulus that pushes onshore.”
“Overnight/early morning winds are expected to maintain a more southwesterly flow for both primary and backup launch windows, which should help limit any cumulus clouds from tracking onshore from activity that develops over the Atlantic,” launch weather officers wrote.
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number B1085 to launch this mission on its 10th flight. Its previous missions included NASA’s Crew-9, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 and Fram2.
About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1085 will target a landing on the droneship ‘Just Read the Instructions.’ If successful, this will be the 132nd landing on this vessel.
