Poor weather causes SpaceX to scrub launch of 3,000th Starlink satellite in 2025 on record-setting 32nd flight of Falcon 9 booster

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands in the launch position at Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Dec. 7, 2025, ahead of flying the Starlink 6-92 mission. SpaceX is using the Falcon 9 booster, 1067, which will make its record breaking 32nd flight. Image: Adam Bernstein / Spaceflight Now

Update Dec. 7, 6:32 p.m. EST (2332 UTC): SpaceX scrubbed the launch.

Poor weather on Sunday kept SpaceX from achieving a couple notable milestones for at least one more day.

The mission, dubbed Starlink 6-92, will feature the use of the company’s most flown Falcon booster, tail number B1067. On its 32nd flight, it will deliver to low Earth orbit SpaceX’s 3,000th Starlink satellite of the year.

Liftoff from historic Launch Complex 39A is scheduled for no earlier than Monday, Dec. 8, at 4:14 p.m. EST (2114 UTC), weather permitting. The rocket will fly on a south-easterly trajectory upon leaving Florida’s Space Coast.

Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.

Meteorologists with the 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 50 percent chance for favorable weather closer to the opening of the window at 4:40 p.m. EST (2140 UTC). Conditions deteriorate to a 30 percent chance of acceptable weather closer to the end of the window at 8:40 p.m. EST (0140 UTC on Dec. 8).

“On Sunday, the synoptic pattern remains sloppy as a cold front moves into Central Florida. A weak area of low pressure is expected to form along the northern Gulf coast Sunday, which should help to tug the cold front through Central Florida by Monday morning, but not before the initial launch window,” launch weather offers wrote on Saturday.

“The latest high-resolution guidance shows the best weather opportunity to occur at the beginning of the window with the cold front and associated rain/thunderstorms settling over the Cape into the evening.”

If SpaceX is unable to launch on Sunday, there is a backup opportunity on Monday, Dec. 8, where conditions improve to a 75 percent chance for favorable weather. However, in that scenario, strong liftoff winds and more precarious booster recovery weather may also work against a launch attempt at the start of the work week.

The use of B1067 on this mission brings SpaceX one step closer to its current goal of certifying its Falcon boosters for up to 40 missions a piece. The ultimate number of missions a booster flies will partially depend on the types of missions for which it was used and if it is needed on an expendable flight.

SpaceX is looking to achieve the same level of reuse for the payload fairings on a Falcon rocket’s upper stage, but typically only provides updates on those during the launches of customer missions for the government or from other companies.

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