Starlink Mission Launched By SpaceX From Vandenberg Space Force Base

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from the West Coast this week after several weather-related postponements. On Friday, February 9, at 4:34 p.m. PST (7:34 p.m. EST, 0034 UTC), the rocket supporting the Starlink 7–13 mission took off.

Launch teams for the Starlink 7–13 mission waited until the very last minute of the countdown during the first attempt at launch on Tuesday night before declaring a scrub. After a brief period during which they were aiming for a Wednesday launch, SpaceX revised the mission's scheduled launch for Thursday, February 8. However, they were compelled to halt on Thursday as well due to heavy cloud cover.

Tail number B1071 of the Falcon 9 first stage booster used in this launch will be making its 14th flight. The most recent launch it supported was Starlink 7-8 on December 8, 2023.

B1071 is scheduled to land on the SpaceX droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean approximately 8.5 minutes after takeoff. This will be the 211th droneship landing and the 82nd landing on OCISLY if it is successful.

The mission was made public a few hours after NASA and SpaceX were forced to abandon their plans to launch NASA's PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, Ocean Ecosystem) mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station due to severe ground winds. The new time for that launch is 1:33 a.m. EST (0633 UTC) on Thursday, February 8.

The most recent statistics will be as follows if Thursday night's Starlink 7-13 launch goes well:

14th launch and touchdown of B1071.

SpaceX's 65th launch from SLC-4E

The 133rd launch from SLC-4E into orbit

297th Falcon 9 launch

OCISLY's 82nd landing

271st Falcon 9 launcher touchdown

fifth Californian orbital launch scheduled for 2024

12th launch by SpaceX in 2024

The 27th orbital liftoff in 2024