SpaceX Delayed Its Falcon 9 Launch Until Today

SpaceX was going to launch a new Falcon 9 mission to put more Starlink satellites into orbit yesterday. However, due to unfavorable weather conditions, SpaceX delayed the launch from yesterday until today, January 18, 2022. Currently, SpaceX is looking at launching the Falcon 9 rocket at 7:04 PM Eastern time.

The delay was in hopes of more favorable weather conditions for launch and booster recovery. The mission is Starlink 4-6 and is designed to put another batch of 49 laser-linked V1.5 satellites into orbit. The mission will launch from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A.

That is the same launchpad where SpaceX launched its Starlink 4-5 mission on January 6. An exciting aspect of this mission is that the booster being used will have been flown for the 10th time. The particular booster for this mission is B1058 and reached its 10th mission in only 19 months.

Launching and recovering its boosters is one of the biggest ways that SpaceX has helped reduce the cost of putting satellites into orbit. The SpaceX Starlink satellites are designed to deliver broadband Internet worldwide.