SpaceX completes Falcon 9 double launch day with Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Station

A Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Starlink 9-2 mission on June 23, 2024. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX completed another double launch day with a West Coast launch of 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, including 13 featuring Direct to Cell capabilities.

Liftoff of the Starlink 9-2 mission happened at 8:47 p.m. PDT (11:47 p.m. EDT, 0347 UTC). It came following the launch of 22 Starlink satellites from Florida at 1:15 p.m. EDT (1715 UTC) on Sunday.

The first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1075 in the SpaceX fleet, launched for an 11th time. It previously supported the launches of the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tranche 0 demonstration satellite mission, German military reconnaissance satellites SARah 2 & 3 and eight Starlink flights.

The last time this booster was flown was nearly 100 days ago on the Starlink 7-16 mission on March 19.

A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1075 landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ This will be the 94th landing on OCISLY and the 322nd booster landing to date.

The mission comes as SpaceX and NASA are preparing to launch a Falcon Heavy rocket on the GOES-U mission, the final satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites-R (GOES-R) series. Rollout of the rocket to the launchpad at Launch Complex 39A was delayed from Sunday morning.

Teams are keeping a close eye on weather conditions for both rollout and launch operations. The mission is currently targeting liftoff on Tuesday, June 25, at 5:16 p.m. EDT (2116 UTC).

As of the latest weather forecast issued on Sunday, June 23, there is only a 30 percent chance of favorable weather at liftoff on both the primary launch day and the 24-hour backup, on June 26.

Watch Falcon Heavy pad views here:

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