SpaceX delays Starlink satellite fleet launch due to bad weather

News
By Tariq Malik
published

Liftoff is now set for Monday, Feb. 15, at 10:59 p.m. EST.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 60 Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida on Feb. 4, 2021.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 60 Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida on Feb. 4, 2021. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX postponed the launch of its next batch of Starlink internet satellites late Sunday  (Feb. 14) due to bad weather. 

A Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch 60 new Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:21 p.m. EST (0421 Feb. 15 GMT) before SpaceX made the call to stand down Sunday. The mission is now expected to launch a day later, on Monday night, SpaceX said in an update. 

"Due to unfavorable weather tonight, now targeting Monday, February 15 at 10:59 p.m. EST for Falcon 9's launch of 60 Starlink satellites," SpaceX wrote in a Twitter update. As of Sunday, there as a 60% chance of good launch weather on Monday night. 

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You'll be able to watch the Starlink launch live here and on the Space.com homepage, courtesy of SpaceX. The webcast will begin about 15 minutes before liftoff. You can also watch it directly via SpaceX.

The upcoming SpaceX launch follows on the heels of a Feb. 4 launch of 60 other Starlink satellites by the company, which now has over 1,000 of the satellites in orbit.  It will be the sixth flight for this Falcon 9 rocket's first stage. 

Visit Space.com Monday for complete coverage of SpaceX's next Starlink launch.

Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com or follow him @tariqjmalik. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Instagram.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.