SpaceX resets attempt at record-tying Falcon 9 launch after Wednesday night scrub (Image Credit: Space.com)
SpaceX will attempt to tie its rocket-reuse record on Thursday (March 14) after a first try on Wednesday ended in a scrub.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites is now scheduled to launch during a window that opens at 7:04 p.m. EDT (2304 GMT) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida
It will be the 19th liftoff for this Falcon 9’s first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description. That will tie a mark set this past December and matched for the first time last month.
An initial attempt on Wednesday ended without explanation when the countdown entered an unplanned hold with just 2 minutes remaining.
You can watch Thursday’s launch attempt live via SpaceX’s account on X, beginning about five minutes before the window opens.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9’s first stage will come back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after liftoff, landing on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage will continue hauling the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, where they will be deployed about 65.5 minutes after liftoff.
Extensive rocket reuse is a key priority for SpaceX and its founder and CEO, Elon Musk. Indeed, the company’s next-generation vehicle, called Starship, is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, a breakthrough that Musk thinks will make Mars settlement economically feasible.
SpaceX is also gearing up for the third-ever test flight of Starship, which will lift off from the company’s Starbase site in South Texas. The mission could launch as soon as Thursday morning.
