SpaceX successfully test fired a Falcon 9 booster on July 15, 2023, after an aborted countdown the day before. The test firing took place at pad 40 in Cape Canaveral, clearing the booster for its 16th flight. The previous launch attempt on Friday was scrubbed in the final minute of the countdown, and SpaceX did not disclose the reason for the abort.
This marks the second time in a week that SpaceX is pushing the envelope by attempting to fly a Falcon 9 rocket for the 16th time. On Sunday night, another booster lifted off from the same launch pad, becoming the first Falcon 9 rocket to complete a 16th flight. Previously, the Falcon 9 first-stage had been certified for use up to 15 times.
During the test, the Falcon 9’s nine Merlin engines ignited at 12:50 a.m. EDT and fired for approximately six seconds while the rocket remained held down on the launch pad. If no significant problems are detected, SpaceX plans to make another launch attempt on Saturday night.
The Falcon 9 first-stage booster, tail number 1060, has an impressive track record. It has previously launched missions such as GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, and 10 Starlink missions. If successful, this will be only the second booster to have completed 16 flights, closely following Booster 1058’s launch of 22 second-generation Starlink satellites.
This mission, referred to as Starlink 5-15, aims to deploy the last 54 older-generation Starlink V1.5 satellites. SpaceX has begun deploying a new generation of Starlink satellites, known as Starlink V2 Minis, which are larger and provide four times the broadband capacity of the older-design satellites.
The Starlink network plays a crucial role in providing high-speed, low-latency connectivity to customers around the world. With each Starlink launch, SpaceX adds over a terabit per second of capacity to the constellation. Currently, there are 4397 functioning Starlink satellites in space, as reported by Jonathan McDowell, an expert tracker of spaceflight activity and an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
Following the launch, the first-stage booster will attempt to land on the drone ship ‘A Short Fall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately eight and a half minutes after liftoff. About an hour after launch, the 54 Starlink satellites will be deployed, further expanding the Starlink network’s capabilities.