SpaceX reschedules 17th Starlink launch
January 20, 2021
By Chris Forrester
SpaceX delayed its initially planned January 18th launch for the 17th Starlink mission because of bad weather. Rescheduled for January 20th, this will be the eighth time the powerful booster had flown, itself a record.
SpaceX plans to loft 60 of its Starlink satellites into orbit (at 08.02 am Florida time, 13.02 GMT) and taking the overall total of satellites in orbit to more than 1000.
Last year was SpaceX’s busiest to date, but 2021 will be busier with about 40 launches anticipated from either Florida or California.
SpaceX still plans to launch its ‘Transporter’ rideshare mission with 10 polar orbiting versions of Starlink aboard (and a portfolio of other non-Starlink small satellites) later this week.