Update Oct. 16, 6:10 a.m. EDT (1010 UTC): SpaceX landed its booster on the drone ship.
Update Oct. 15, 3:07 p.m. EDT (1907 UTC): SpaceX pushed back the T-0 liftoff time.
An overnight launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station allowed SpaceX to continue bolstering its Starlink satellite constellation in low Earth orbit.
The Thursday morning flight will add another 28 V2 Mini satellites to the network of 8,600 currently on orbit, according to astronomer and expert orbital tracker, Jonathan McDowell. Of the more than 125 Falcon 9 launches in 2025, 91 have flown in support of SpaceX’s constellation prior to Thursday.
The company launched the Starlink 10-52 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at 5:27 a.m. EDT (0927 UTC). Following a launch for the Space Development Agency (SDA) in California on Wednesday late afternoon, this was SpaceX’s 130th Falcon 9 launch of the year.
The 45th Weather Squadron forecast a quite favorable outlook for SpaceX’s launch window in the predawn hours of Thursday. Meteorologists predict a 95 percent chance for good weather conditions, with just a scant chance for interference from cumulus clouds.
Weather in the planned landing zone for the Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1095, was listed as a “moderate” risk on a scale of low-moderate-high. A similar outlook was given during the launch forecast from the Kuiper Falcon 03 mission, which saw a successful launch and landing campaign.
This was the third flight for B1095 after previously being used by SpaceX to launch a pair of Starlink missions earlier this year. The company used its drone ship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ to recover the booster nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
This was the 138th landing on this vessel and the 519th booster landing to date.
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