File: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now
SpaceX is preparing to launch its 580th Falcon 9 rocket to date with a late night flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday night.
The Starlink 6-82 mission will add another 29 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into the growing megaconstellation in low Earth orbit. This is SpaceX’s 120 Starlink launch so far this year.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 is scheduled for 9:47 p.m. EST (0247 UTC). The rocket will fly on a south-easterly trajectory upon leaving the launch pad.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
On Friday, the 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 60 percent chance for favorable weather at the opening of the window, which drops to 40 percent towards the end of the window. Meteorologists point to a cold front expected to move through the state on Sunday that will combine with an area of “strong, high pressure centered over the Ohio Valley” resulting in “a very tight pressure gradient behind the front.”
“This will bring a surge of northerly winds on Sunday evening near the opening of the window, with winds likely to increase as the night progresses,” launch weather officers wrote. “The main concern is the low-level winds violating liftoff constraints, along with the low risk of a coastal shower violating the flight through Cumulus Cloud Rule.”
SpaceX will fly the mission using the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number, 1092. This will be its ninth flight following missions like CRS-32, GPS III-7 and USSF 36.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1092 will target a landing on the drone ship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ If successful, this will be the 137th landing on this vessel and the 551st booster landing to date for SpaceX.