SpaceX to retry Starlink satellite launch on Oct 30

SpaceX called an abort on its first launch attempt on Sunday (Oct. 29), after detecting an issue with the Falcon 9 rocket’s stage separation system. The company intends to try again on Monday (Oct. 30).

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch 23 Starlink internet satellites on Monday (Oct. 30), on its second attempt after an abort.

A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday (Oct. 30) at 7:20 p.m. EDT (2320 GMT). If the Falcon 9 can’t get off the ground on time, seven backup opportunities are available, from 7:52 p.m. EDT to 10:22 p.m. EDT (2352 to 0222 GMT on Oct. 30), according to a SpaceX mission description.

You can watch the action live via SpaceX’s account on X (formerly known as Twitter). Coverage will start about five minutes before liftoff.

If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth for a vertical landing about 8.5 minutes after launch on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

It will be the eighth launch and landing for this rocket’s first stage, according to the mission description.

The 23 Starlink satellites will deploy from the Falcon 9’s upper stage into low Earth orbit about 65.5 minutes after liftoff, if all goes according to plan.

Starlink is SpaceX’s broadband megaconstellation, which beams internet service down to customers around the world. SpaceX has launched more than 5,000 Starlink satellites to LEO to date, and many more liftoffs are coming: The company has permission to deploy 12,000 of the spacecraft, and it has applied for approval for another 30,000 on top of that. Space