SpaceX Starlink Group 6-2 Launch

SpaceX plans to launch 21 Starlink V2 mini satellites into Generation 2 Group 6 on 2023-04-19 at 14:31 UTC. The launch will be from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The first stage booster, B1073, will be making its eighth flight, after a turnaround time of 35 days since its last mission. The operational orbit will be 530 km circular at 43°.

This will be the second launch of Starlink v2.0 satellites, using the “Bus F9-2” configuration, also called “V2 mini”, with satellites of 800 kg and 4.1×2.7 metres size, able to fit in the Falcon 9 payload fairing, but with only 21 per launch. This is a scaled down version of the 2000 kg v2.0 Bus Starship version designed to be launched by Starship, but is said to provide three to four times the bandwidth per satellite of the operational v1.0 and v1.5 satellites. Weather is forecast as 85% favourable for launch.

Here is the pre-flight preview from Everyday Astronaut .

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Launch time has slipped to the second launch opportunity on 2023-04-19 at 14:31 UTC.

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