Rocket Checks Causes the Delay of SpaceX Launch of the Starlink, BlackSky Satellites Again

The BlackSky, the 10th Starlink mission for SpaceX, is facing another delay – the satellite’s launch was stopped for an hour due to checks on the Falcon 9 rocket. 

The announcement was made via Twitter by SpaceX at 10:54 a.m EDT on Saturday, July 11th, that they will be standing down on the scheduled satellite launch. The team will then promptly announce the new launch date after the checks have been completed. Both of these will firstly have to be approved by the Eastern Range, the body that supervises launches of all East Coast satellites.

Here is what they posted on Twitter.

“Standing down from today’s launch of the tenth Starlink mission to allow more time for checkouts; the team is working to identify the next launch opportunity. Will announce a new target date once confirmed with the Range”.

Previous satellites’ delays?

Previously, there have been two more delays, the initial satellite launch set the date of June 6th, and the second postponement was on July 8th. This recent delay marked the third delay. The first postponement was due to preflight checks, the second was caused by weather, and this third time was because of more checkouts. The weather was a possible delay factor, as well.

Upcoming satellites’ launches

This week SpaceX is expected to launch the Anasis2 communications satellite for South Korea. If they decide on a launch date that same week, both satellites will launch one after the other. But that is solely dependent on the checkouts.

If the mission goes airborne, SpaceX will be counting it as one of the successful 11 satellites launched.