SpaceX is set to break another rocket reuse record Thursday morning when it launches its most-flown Falcon 9 booster for a 36th time.
It will fly in support of the Starlink 10-42 mission, which will add another 29 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation. SpaceX currently has more than 10,700 Starlink satellites in orbit.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is scheduled for 5:25 a.m. EDT (0925 UTC). The rocket will fly on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the pad.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour prior to liftoff.
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90 percent chance for favorable weather Thursday morning. Meteorologists said they are watching for a small interference from cumulus clouds.
“On Thursday morning, winds will be light and southwesterly, and a few offshore Atlantic
showers are possible which could cause a small concern for the Cumulus Cloud Rule,” launch weather officers wrote. “Very similar conditions are expected for the backup day, as Saharan dust settles in the mid-levels and inhibits cumulus development.”
SpaceX’s most flown booster, B1067, began flying in June 2021 with the company’s 22nd Dragon flight as part of the Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract with NASA. It went onto fly the Crew-3 and Crew-4 missions as well as 24 batches of Starlink satellites.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1067 will target a landing on the drone ship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. If successful, this will be the 160th landing for this vessel and the 635th booster landing to date for SpaceX.
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