SpaceX was racing to get a Falcon 9 rocket ready to fly from Cape Canaveral Tuesday evening as launch preparations fell behind schedule. Currently liftoff with a batch of 23 Starlink satellites is planned for 2:27 a.m. EST (0727 UTC) Wednesday morning.

The Starlink 6-29 mission was originally targeted for 11:01 p.m. EST (0401 UTC) on Tuesday night but SpaceX pushed back the launch to 1:47 a.m. EST (0647 UTC) and then 2:27 a.m. EST (0727 UTC). There are two more launch opportunities Wednesday morning, the last one coming at 2:59 a.m. EST (0759 UTC).

The Falcon 9 rocket was lifted upright at Space Launch Complex 40 shortly before 10 p.m. EST (0300 UTC), much later than would have been expected. The previous mission from pad 40 lifted off just four days earlier so if the current launch time sticks this would be the seventh fastest turnaround attempt for the launch facility.

Falcon 9 로켓은 오후 10시 직전에 Space Launch Complex 40에서 수직으로 들어 올려졌습니다. EST(0300 UTC), 예상보다 훨씬 늦었습니다. 패드 40의 이전 임무는 불과 4일 전에 시작되었으므로 현재 발사 시간이 지속된다면 이것은 발사 시설에 대한 7번째로 빠른 전환 시도가 될 것입니다.

The Falcon 9 rocket is lifted upright at Space Launch Complex 40 as SpaceX presses ahead with plans for a Starlink delivery mission. Image: Adam Bernstein/Spaceflight Now.

U.S. Space Force meteorologists at the 45th Weather squadron said Monday weather conditions would be 90-percent favorable at the time of the first opportunity with chances dropping slightly to 75-percent at the end of the launch window.

After lifting off from Cape Canaveral, the Falcon 9 will set off on a south-easterly trajectory targeting an orbit inclined 43 degrees to the Equator. After burning its nine Merlin 1D engines for nearly two and a half minutes, the first stage will separate from the second stage and continue downrange to land on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean, about 424 miles (682 km) from the launch site.

Falcon 9는 Cape Canaveral에서 이륙한 후 적도에서 43도 기울어진 궤도를 목표로 남동쪽 궤도로 출발합니다. 9개의 Merlin 1D 엔진을 거의 2분 30초 동안 연소시킨 후 1단계는 2단계에서 분리되어 약 682km의 대서양에 있는 드론 선박 'A Shortfall of Gravitas'에 착륙하기 위해 계속 하향 비행합니다. ) 발사 사이트에서.

File photo of SpaceX’s Starlink V2 Mini satellites inside a payload processing facility at Cape Canaveral earlier this year. Credit: SpaceX

Meanwhile, high above, the single vacuum Merlin engine of the second stage will fire for about six-minutes to reach a parking orbit. After coasting for about 45 minutes, the second-stage engine will re-ignite for a two-second burn to refine the orbit. Deployment of the 23 V2 Mini Starlink satellites will follow at about one hour and five minutes after launch.

한편, 높은 곳에서는 2단 단일 진공 멀린 엔진이 주차 궤도에 도달하기까지 약 6분간 발사됩니다. 약 45분 동안 타력 주행을 한 후 2단계 엔진이 다시 점화되어 2초간 궤도를 개선합니다. 23개의 V2 Mini Starlink 위성 배치는 발사 후 약 1시간 5분 후에 이루어집니다.

It will be SpaceX’s 87th orbital launch of the year and the 276th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket to date.

Spaceflight Now’s live coverage of the launch will get underway about an hour before liftoff. You can also watch 24-7 views of launch pads at the Cape in our Launch Pad Live stream.

Spaceflight Now의 발사 생방송은 이륙 약 한 시간 전에 진행됩니다. Launch Pad Live 스트림을 통해 Cape의 발사대를 연중무휴 24시간 시청할 수도 있습니다.