SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family is expected to exceed the total number of Space Shuttle missions from NASA’s historic Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center. Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rocket launches currently match the total number of shuttle flights seen at that pad.
With the Starlink 6-56 mission, which is scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), SpaceX will reach 83 orbital launches from its KSC platform. This is more than the 82 shuttle launches that have taken place over the 30-year history of this program.
The Falcon 9 rocket arrived at pad 39 shortly before 7 a.m. EDT (1100 UTC), much later than expected for the planned liftoff time. SpaceX said it has additional launch opportunities available on Wednesday until 2:48 PM EDT (1848 UTC).
SpaceX’s flights are a mix of 74 Falcon 9 launches and nine Falcon Heavy launches. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage starting about an hour before liftoff.
The first stage booster supporting this mission, numbered B1083 in the SpaceX fleet, will be launched for the third time. It had previously launched the Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station as well as the Starlink 6-48 mission.
Just over eight minutes after liftoff, the booster will land aboard SpaceX’s unmanned spacecraft, dubbed “A Shortfall of Gravitas.” This will mark ASOG’s 68th booster landing and SpaceX’s 305th first stage landing to date.
A view from yesterday @starlink Posted during tropical sunrise pic.twitter.com/DQRfPp0DEG
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 7, 2024
The mission will add 23 more Starlink satellites to the growing constellation. Prior to this launch, SpaceX sent 702 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit in 2024 over the course of 31 launches.
According to orbital tracking expert and astronomer Jonathan McDowell, as of May 6, there are currently 5,935 Starlink satellites in orbit out of a total of 6,350 satellites launched so far.
About half a day after the launch of the Starlink 6-56 mission, SpaceX aims to add 20 more satellites to low Earth orbit with the Starlink 8-2 mission, launching from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This mission, scheduled to launch at 7:48 PM PST (10:48 PM EDT, 0248 UTC), includes 13 Starlink satellites featuring Direct to Cell capability.
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