SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster Rocket Attempts 9th Record Flight with Starlink Launch

Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to launch its third batch of Starlink satellites--set to be the biggest artificial constellation of satellites--on Sunday.

The California-based company plans to fly Falcon 9 rockets, one of its veteran booster rockers for a record-breaking 9th time with the mission slated for Sunday, March 14.

The two-stage launcher will launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on the history Pad 39A at 6:01 am EDT.

9th Launch of SpaceX' Falcon 9

Falcon 9's scheduled flight on Sunday morning marks the 8th SpaceX launch this year, keeping up with the previous year's track record of 26 new launch flights.

According to forecasts and the US Space Force's 45the Weather Squadron, a 90% chance of favorable weather for Sunday's early morning flight is to be expected. With only slight concern for potential cumulus clouds.

However, a backup launch window on Monday is set in the event of poor weather conditions.

The ideal weather predictions are great news for SpaceX's main drone ship, 'Of Course I Still Love You' tasked with catching the boosters upon re-entry. If successful, Sunday's landing will mark the 77th recovery for SpaceX since its first booster landing in 2015, and the 9th landing for Falcon 9 boosters.

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Falcon 9's 9th Flight

Falcon 9's booster, B1051, is one of SpaceX's fleet leader rockets in stability and reusability. It first took flight in March 2019, shuttling an uncrewed Crew Dragon spacecraft to the Internation Space Station as part of a demonstrative mission.

Following its successful debut, the boosters made their way across the country to aid in the launch of a trio of Earth-observing satellites for Canada. B1051 boosters flew a total of 5 times in 2020, carrying 5 different Starlink missions and a satellite for SiriusXM.

Sunday's scheduled mission marks the 2nd flight of B1051 this year and its 2nd Starlink mission in 2021. After it last took flight on January 20, SpaceX engineers prepped the booster for its historic 9th flight in only 53 days--SpaceX's fastest turnaround time for the particular booster.

The Starlink Constellation

The Starlink 21, is SpaceX's 22nd set of internet-beaming satellites delivered to space, including initial prototypes launched in 2019. The company's initial plans for the largest artificial satellite constellation were for 1,440 satellites. Although SpaceX is well underway to achieving the milestone, it has already been granted permission to launch as many as 30.000 satellites, with options to expand even further.

The latest stack of 60 Starlink satellites to join the orbiting fleet, brings the total number of launched satellites to over 1,300 including prototypes no longer in service. SpaceX is quickly completing its Starlink Constellation as it plans to launch a full commercialization rollout by this year.

SpaceX has already begun taking preorders for services via its website. The website informs interested customers that the service could become active in several months, allowing only a small number of users per area, as of yet.