Helium problem on Falcon 9 launch vehicle chafes Starlink 6-77 mission at Cape Canaveral – Spaceflight Now

Update November 3, 1:42 PM EST: Added information about the booster flying this mission.

Update November 3, 5:40 p.m. EST: A helium problem has interrupted the mission.

A helium problem in the first stage of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket prevented a launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday. The mission was intended to add another batch of 23 Starlink V2 mini satellites to SpaceX's growing mega-constellation.

The timing of the Starlink 6-77 mission from Pad 40 is currently uncertain, as a delay to Monday would be just hours before the planned launch of the CRS-31 Cargo Dragon mission to the International Space Station. NASA has reached a 24-hour standstill agreement with SpaceX in which it will not launch another Falcon 9 rocket before a NASA mission during that period.

Spaceflight Now's live broadcast begins about an hour before launch.

When the 45th Weather Squadron arrived at the launch opportunity on Sunday, they predicted fairly idyllic conditions at the launch site during the launch window. Meteorologists estimated there was a 90 percent chance of good weather at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), with launch winds and cumulus clouds the main concerns. However, weather officers also marked the booster recovery weather as an observation point during the launches and classified this as a “moderate” risk.

They also forecast that weather conditions will become 80 percent more favorable on Monday and the risk of a booster recovery will rise to the “high” level.

According to the National Hurricane Center's update at 9 a.m. EST (1300 UTC), a Disturbance 2 storm has a 10 percent chance of developing into a tropical cyclone within 48 hours. The storm is located north of Haiti and the Dominican Republic and south of the Bahamas.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1085 in the SpaceX fleet, will launch for the third time. It previously supported the Crew-9 astronaut mission to the International Space Station and Starlink 10-5.

In support of this mission is the SpaceX drone ship “Just Read the Instructions,” stationed in the Atlantic Ocean west of the Bahamas. If all goes according to plan, this will be the 96th booster landing for JRTI and the 362nd booster landing to date.