SpaceX is preparing to launch a Falcon 9 rocket 14 years to the day the rocket made its debut from the same pad. Since that day, SpaceX has launched more than 340 Falcon 9 rockets, 285 of which used previous boosters.
Tuesday night’s launch is set to lift off from Pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:16 p.m. EDT (0216 UTC).
Spaceflight Now will have a live broadcast about an hour before liftoff.
The first Falcon 9 booster, tail number B1067 in the SpaceX fleet, will be launched for the 20th time. It previously supported the flights of two Crew Dragon astronaut missions, two Cargo Dragon resupply missions to the International Space Station, and 10 previous Starlink deliveries.
About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1067 will land on the SpaceX drone ship “Just read the instructions.” This will be the 83rd JRTI assisted landing and the 316th booster landing till date.
There are 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites on board the Falcon 9 flight, including 13 that are capable of direct access to mobile phones.
In a post on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), SpaceX founder Elon Musk stated on June 2, “Starlink just hit a new internal average latency record of 28ms yesterday,” adding later that “the average latency for the Internet on Starlink in the US you’ll drop below 20ms.”
The update to the network’s reported capabilities came a day after Michael Nichols, SpaceX’s vice president of Starlink Engineering, shared a post summarizing the impact of SpaceX’s 11 Starlink launches in May.
He noted that Starlink’s 26 direct-to-cell phone satellites represent more than eight percent of what it needs for initial cell phone service with partner T-Mobile. This suggests that SpaceX needs about 325 such Starlink satellites to achieve this goal.
Quite a month for @Starlink thanks to the accelerating Falcon launch!
+ 11 launches
+ 221 Ku satellites – over 20 Tbps front channel capacity
+ 26 direct-to-cell satellites – over 8% of satellites required for initial direct-to-cell service pic.twitter.com/pwUj8kdWUj— Michael Nichols (@michaelnicollsx) June 1, 2024
Starship Flight 4
The launch comes the same day the Federal Aviation Administration approved a launch license modification that allows SpaceX to move forward with Flight 4 of its Starship rocket. The agency noted that SpaceX “met all safety and other licensing requirements for this test flight.”
The FAA also included language in its statement suggesting that SpaceX might not have to wait that long if things meet certain parameters outlined by SpaceX.
“As part of its license modification request, SpaceX proposed three scenarios involving Starship entry that would not require an investigation in the event of the loss of the vehicle,” the FAA said in a statement. “The FAA approved the scenarios as test-induced damage exemptions after evaluating them as part of the flight safety and flight hazard analysis and confirming they meet public safety requirements.”
“If a different anomaly occurs with the Starship vehicle, an investigation may be necessary, as well as if an anomaly occurs with the Super Heavy launch vehicle.”
The FAA also authorized SpaceX to perform a controlled or uncontrolled reentry of the Starship. However, he specified that SpaceX must give the FAA a warning before launch if it chooses the second option.
