Good weather ahead for Starlink launch

CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION — Even though many parts of the Space Coast have seen heavy rains the last few days, it looks like Mother Nature is smiling on SpaceX as the weather is looking good for Wednesday’s Starlink launch. 

The Falcon 9 rocket will send up Starlink 10-37 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, stated SpaceX.

The four-hour launch window will open at 8:52 a.m. ET and closes at 12:52 p.m. ET. This means the California-based company has during that time frame to launch nearly 30 Starlink satellites.

The 45th Weather Squadron is giving a 95% chance of good liftoff conditions, with the only concerns being the cumulus cloud rule. 

Find out more about the weather criteria for a Falcon 9 launch.

Going up

This will be the 15th mission for the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster B1083. Some of its missions include crewed and lunar ones.

1. Crew-8 launch
2. Polaris Dawn mission
3. Starlink 6-48 mission
4. Starlink 6-56 mission
5. CRS-31
6. Starlink 6-65 mission
7. Astranis
8. Starlink 13-1 mission
9. IM-2 mission
10. Starlink 12-17 mission
11. Starlink 6-91 mission
12. Starlink 12-24 mission
13. Dror 1
14. Starlink 10-22 mission

After the stage separation, the first-stage rocket is set to land on the droneship Just Read the Instructions that will be in the Atlantic Ocean.

About the mission

The 29 satellites from the Starlink company, owned by SpaceX, will be heading to low-Earth orbit to join the thousands already there.

Once deployed and in their orbit, they will provide internet service to many parts of Earth.

Dr. Jonathan McDowell, of Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been recording Starlink satellites.

Before this launch, McDowell recorded the following:

• 8,784 are in orbit
• 7,566 are in operational orbit