It really is non-stop operations isn’t it?
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/06/0...arlink-launch/
SpaceX targets Wednesday night for next Starlink launch
Days after launching astronauts for the first time, SpaceX is set to resume a speedy cadence of satellite launches Wednesday night with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s next batch of Starlink broadband relay stations.
A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled for takeoff Wednesday, likely around 9:25 p.m. EDT (0125 GMT Thursday), from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. A weather forecast issued by the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron on Monday indicates there is a 70 percent probability of favorable conditions for launch Wednesday night.
The weather forecast lists a 61-minute launch window for the Starlink mission opening at 8:55 p.m. EDT (0055 GMT), but SpaceX typically targets liftoff in the middle of the window for Starlink flights.
SpaceX has launched 420 Starlink satellites on seven dedicated Falcon 9 launches since May 2019, with each rocket carrying 60 Starlink spacecraft. This week’s launch is expected to loft around 60 additional Starlink satellites, which each weigh about a quarter-ton.
This eighth launch devoted to the Starlink network was previously scheduled for mid-May. SpaceX delayed the launch after Tropical Storm Arthur brought high winds and rough seas to the downrange recovery area northeast of Cape Canaveral in the Atlantic Ocean, where SpaceX’s drone ship needs to be positioned for landing of the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage booster.
Once Tropical Storm Arthur forced the initial launch delay, SpaceX
decided to keep the Starlink mission on the ground until after the company launched the Crew Dragon spacecraft from nearby pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. The Crew Dragon launched Saturday with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, the first crewed mission to launch into orbit from U.S. soil since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011.
SpaceX’s drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You” was deployed in the Atlantic Ocean for the landing of the Falcon 9’s first stage booster after the Starlink launch. The drone ship was later used for the landing of the Falcon 9 first stage after the Crew Dragon launch.
Another drone ship in SpaceX’s fleet — named “Just the Read Instructions” — has completed upgrades and departed Port Canaveral, Florida, to support the booster landing for the next Starlink launch. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s “Of Course I Still Love You” recovery vessel is on the way back to Port Canaveral with the first stage recovered after the Crew Dragon launch......