Update Nov. 5, 11:15 p.m. EDT (0415 UTC): SpaceX confirmed deployment of the 29 Starlink V2 Mini satellites.
SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlink satellites of the month Wednesday night. The company has at least seven such missions planned before the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
The mission, dubbed Starlink 6-81, saw 29 Starlink V2 Mini satellites sent to low Earth orbit. The spacecraft were deployed all at once a little more than an hour after launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 8:31:10 p.m. EST (0131:10 UTC). The rocket flew on a south-easterly trajectory upon leaving Florida’s Space Coast.
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a greater than 95 percent chance for favorable weather during the launch window. Meteorologists weren’t concerned with any particular weather phenomena that would impact liftoff or booster recovery.
SpaceX launched the Starlink 6-81 mission using its Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number B1094. This was its fifth trip to space and back following the launches of Crew-11, Ax-4, NG-23 and Starlink 12-10.
About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1094 performed an autonomous landing on the drone ship, ‘Just Read the Instructions’, which was positioned in the Atlantic Ocean to the east of The Bahamas. This was the 140th booster landing on this vessel and the 529th booster landing to date.
Located near the Cape Canaveral SFC Delta Operations Center with the launch site just below some hills 25 minutes before launch. No light out here except the moon so should be a cool Falcon 9 launch. Don’t get to see these in Alabama, and look forward to Artemis II launch in Feb 2026.
Im a 69yo grandma space freak! My uncle developed the camera that went to the moon! I get tears with every lauch! I don’t know where to join…I want to…
Watching from Port Saint Lucie tonight, I saw the Falcon 9 rocket streaking across the sky while Spaceflight Now “live ” coverage was still counting down ! There was still over a minute to go on the countdown.
Thanks for watching our coverage. There is some delay between the YouTube livestream reaching phones and laptops and when the rocket lifts off in real time, if you’re watching it in person. We can’t control the lag in how quickly the video feeds to someone’s device, which is why we note the launch time throughout the course of the broadcast.
Great info