WORLDTECHLive coverage: SpaceX to close out October with Halloween eve Falcon 9 launch
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This will be its 18th flight following the launches of Transporter-16, two missions for the Space Development Agency, and 14 batches of Starlink satellites. While that number of launches in a calendar month far exceeds that achieved by other launch providers, it comes as SpaceX is starting to wind down the Falcon program as it turns its focus to Starship. SpaceX is a space company based in Hawthorne, and its products and services include Falcon.
The Starlink 15-18 mission will add another 27 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to SpaceX’s megaconstellation. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base is scheduled for 9:02 p.m.
File photo of a Falcon 9 fueled for launch at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. SpaceX looks to cap the month of October with the launch of a Starlink mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday night.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East is scheduled for 9:02 p.m. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
If successful, this will be the 231st landing on this vessel and the 675th Falcon booster landing to date. Winding down Falcon, ramping up Starship The launch anticipated for the eve of Halloween will be SpaceX’s 11th and final orbital flight in October.
NASA and others have publicly acknowledged that SpaceX looking to end offering the Falcon 9 for commercial and government missions in the next few years. The company’s decreasing launch rate reflects this change.