SpaceX aims to fly its 580th Falcon 9 mission with a late-evening launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, slated for Sunday night. The mission, designated Starlink 6-82, will deploy 29 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to contribute to the rapidly expanding low-Earth orbit megaconstellation. This marks SpaceX’s 120th Starlink launch this year alone.
Liftoff is scheduled from Space Launch Complex 40 at 9:47 p.m. EST (02:47 UTC), with the booster following a south-easterly path shortly after ignition. Spaceflight Now will provide live coverage starting about an hour before launch.
Forecasts released on Friday from the 45th Weather Squadron showed a 60 percent chance of favorable weather at the start of the window, dipping to 40 percent toward its end. Forecasters noted a cold front moving through the region, interacting with a high-pressure system centered over the Ohio Valley, which would create a strong pressure gradient behind the front.
According to launch weather officers, this setup is expected to generate stronger northerly winds on Sunday evening as the window opens, with wind speeds likely to rise as night falls. The primary concerns are potential violations of low-level wind constraints during liftoff and a small chance that a coastal shower could breach the Cumulus Cloud Rule and affect the flight.
The mission will utilize the Falcon 9 booster bearing tail number 1092, which is making its ninth flight after previous roles on CRS-32, GPS III-7, and USSF 36 missions.
About eight minutes after liftoff, the booster is targeted to land on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas.’ If successful, this would mark SpaceX’s 137th landing on that vessel and the 551st booster landing in the company’s history.
