SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in the midnight hour on Monday to add another 21 satellites to its orbiting Starlink fleet.
Liftoff of the Starlink 12-2 mission from pad 39A is scheduled for 12:35 a.m. EST (0535 UTC), just five days and seven hours since the last launch from the historic launch site, a new record turnaround for SpaceX.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage of the mission starting an hour prior to launch. It will be SpaceX’s 131st orbital launch of 2024.
Meteorologists at the 45th Weather Squadron, based at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, predicted a 60-percent chance of acceptable weather conditions for launch. The main concern is for rain showers that could violate the Eastern Range’s cumulus cloud rule. If needed there are multiple launch opportunities for the Starlink 12-2 mission until 3:21 a.m. EST (0821 UTC).
Of the 21 satellites, 13 are equipped for direct-to-cellphone connections. SpaceX’s U.S. cellphone partner, T-Mobile, recently announced it would be starting a beta text messaging service via the direct-to-cell Starlink satellites.
Starlink 12-2 will be launched by Falcon 9 first-stage booster 1080, making its 14th flight. The booster entered service in May 2023 with the launch of the Axiom 2 commercial space station mission. It has launched seven previous batches of Starlink satellites.
Following stage separation, the booster will continue downrange for a landing on the SpaceX droneship ‘Just Read the Instructions’ stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, east of the Bahamas.
The 21 Starlink satellites will be deployed from the Falcon 9 upper stage into a 293 by 284 kilometer, 43-degree inclination orbit a little over an hour after launch.
