SpaceX Targets Another Starlink Launch Thursday to Continue Record Pace
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SpaceX targets another Starlink launch Thursday to continue record pace:
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off at 8:46am EDT (12:46 UTC) Thursday from Kennedy Space Center while carrying a payload of 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. This will be the 12th launch of a large batch of Starlink satellites, although the first 60 satellites launched in May 2019 were, to some extent, a test bed for future iterations. After this mission, the company will have placed more than 700 of its satellites into orbit to provide broadband service.
[...] With a total of 15 missions through August, SpaceX is on a mathematical pace for 22 or 23 total launches this year. That would exceed the company's previous record of 21 launches in the year 2018, when SpaceX flew out much of a commercial backlog it had accrued during the mid-2010s. However, given the number of planned launches for the rest of the year, it seems plausible SpaceX will launch 25 or more rockets in 2020.
The march toward a record-setting pace in 2020 continues Thursday morning, when the weather conditions are forecast to be good, with an 80 percent chance of "go" conditions.
Live stream usually starts about 15-20 minutes before scheduled launch. YouTube link.
Separately, here are details from SpaceFlight Now's launch schedule:
Date: Sept. 3
Mission: Falcon 9 Starlink 11
Launch time: 1246 GMT (8:46 a.m. EDT)
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Description: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the 12th batch of approximately 60 satellites for SpaceX's Starlink broadband network, a mission designated Starlink 11
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