Update Sept. 17, 6:15 p.m. EDT: SpaceX scrubbed the launch due to weather. It’s now targeting launch on Sept. 18.
Poor weather stood in the way of SpaceX launching its latest batch of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites into a polar, low Earth orbit Wednesday morning.
Thunder was heard in the vicinity of the launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in the final minute of the countdown.
“This is SpaceX launch director on Countdown 1. Hold, hold, hold,” the launch director stated in the final minute of the count. “We’re standing down due to weather being no-go.”
The company is now aiming to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base no earlier than Thursday, Sept. 18, at 8:41 a.m. PDT (11:41 a.m. EDT / 1541 UTC). The Starlink 17-12 mission will be the 84th mission supporting SpaceX’s megaconstellation in 2025, following the planned launch of Starlink 10-61 mission earlier in the day on Thursday.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 first stage booster, B1088, to launch the mission, which will be its 10th flight. Its previous flights included NASA’s SPHEREx rideshare, the Transporter-12 rideshare and two missions for the National Reconnaissance Office.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after taking off from the California coast, SpaceX plans to land B1088 on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If successful, this will be the 152nd landing on this vessel and the 507th booster landing to date.
So far in 2025, SpaceX has launched more than 2,000 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. As it continues development of its Starship rocket, SpaceX plans to start deploying the significantly larger Starlink Version 3 satellites beginning in 2026.
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