SpaceX is counting down to the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 25 Starlink satellites from California, after days of delay.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 1 a.m. PST (4 a.m. EST / 0900 UTC). The company had originally planned to launch the Starlink 17-25 mission Feb. 18 but it was delayed three times due to severe weather in central California. The rocket will take a southerly trajectory on departure from the launch pad.
SpaceX is flying Falcon 9 first stage B1063 for a 31st time. It is currently the third most flown booster in the SpaceX fleet. It previously launched 20 batches of Starlink satellites, three batches of Starshield satellites for the U.S. military, and the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, DART, Transporter-7, Iridium OneWeb, SDA-0B and NAOS missions
After separating from the first stage, the booster will target a landing on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned downrange in the Pacific Ocean.
