SpaceX postpones Starlink launch again
September 2, 2020
By Chris Forrester
SpaceX scrubbed the September 1st launch of 60 Starlink broadband satellites, saying they would be examining data prior to the rescheduled launch.
The new launch is set for September 3rd at 08.46 am Florida time. The SpaceX rocket will carry 60 Starlink broadband satellites from Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The launch will take the Starlink orbital fleet to more than 700 craft (653 plus this latest 60) although some have failed in orbit.
Elon Musk, on August 30th, updated progress on SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket, saying the rocket will “probably” make its debut orbital flight next year. Then it will make many further test flights prior to placing people on board.
Musk, speaking during a phone call during the virtual Humans to Mars Summit, said SpaceX is “making good progress” on the Starship programme. He stressed SpaceX’s advancements in scaling up production of the Starship test vehicles. “The main thing we needed to make progress on with Starship is the production system,” he said, adding that making a prototype was “relatively easy” in comparison.
“Building the production system so that we can build ultimately hundreds or thousands of Starships — that’s the hard part,” Musk said during the call. “But we’ve been making good progress on the productions system as people can see from the aerial photos of Boca Chica (the production site in Texas).”