SpaceX Scrubs Launch of 60 Starlink Satellites Due to “Recovery Issue” Written 18 September 2020
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An aerial view of the launch pad for the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center. | Shealah Craighead; Wikipedia; Public Domain
SPACE reports that on Thursday, SpaceX said it was delaying the launch of 60 Starlink satellites scheduled to launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 2:19 p.m. Thursday. The cancellation was announced 15 minutes before the rocket was scheduled to lift off. SpaceX said on Twitter, “Standing down from today’s Starlink launch due to recovery issue; vehicle and payload remain healthy.” SpaceX “did not specify the nature of the ‘recovery issue,’ but it is presumably related to the company’s plan to recover the first stage of the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket by landing it on the company’s drone ship ‘Just Read the Instructions’ in the Atlantic Ocean. Good weather at the floating landing pad is required to ensure a safe landing.” SpaceX said in a separate tweet that it will not attempt to launch the mission on Friday because of poor weather conditions expected in the recovery zone of the first-stage booster.
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