SpaceX to launch delayed Starlink 10-2 mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida

Brooke Edwards, Florida Today
·2 min read

After a back-to-back scrub, followed by a rare T-0 abort on June 14, Space X will try once again to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission.

SpaceX is aiming for a liftoff time of 1:15 p.m. EDT on Sunday, yet the launch window runs until 5:01 p.m. if needed.

When is the next Florida rocket launch? Is there a launch today? Upcoming SpaceX, NASA, ULA rocket launch schedule in Florida

SpaceX launch delay from Florida

This is the mission that resulted in an unusual scrub for SpaceX. After the Falcon 9 engines ignited on June 14, spectators watched as nothing happened with the rocket. The clock was at T-0, yet the rocket was still on the pad. There had been an abort − something of a rarity for SpaceX.

SpaceX did not give an official answer about what happened to this Starlink mission. However, the company's VP of launch, Kiko Dontchev, took to X the following evening with a statement that the rocket had experienced a hardware issue. SpaceX decided to take the troubled Falcon 9 off Space Launch Complex 40 to get German TV satellite Astra 1P to the pad. But then weather got in the way of that launch.

Finally, on Thursday, Astra 1P rocketed off Space Launch Complex 40, ending an almost two-week launch drought on the Space Coast.

The launch drought wasn't due to just weather and technical issues. With SpaceX only having access to Kennedy Space Center's Pad 39A and Space Launch Complex 40, this made for a bit of a rocket traffic jam as teams were already preparing to raise a Falcon Heavy rocket on Pad 39A.

The payload of that triple-core Falcon Heavy is the GOES-U weather satellite, which is set to liftoff as soon as 5:16 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.

SpaceX upcoming rocket launches from Florida

Before we see GOES-U carried to orbit on a Falcon Heavy, SpaceX has plans to get this Starlink 10-2 off from Launch Complex 40. If SpaceX cannot launch during Sunday's window, a backup opportunity exists on Monday beginning at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Being from the Starlink Group 10, this Falcon 9 will be launching into the northeast.

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Brooke Edwards is a Space Reporter for Florida Today. Contact her at bedwards@floridatoday.com or on X: @brookeofstars.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX Falcon 9 to kick off big launch week for Florida Space Coast