On the same day Elon Musk’s SpaceX debuts on Wall Street, the company was business as usual set to launch another batch of Starlink satellites from the Space Coast.
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A Falcon 9 on the Starlink 10-54 mission carrying 29 of the broadband internet satellites is targeting 8:37 a.m. during launch window that runs through 12:27 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 .
The first-stage booster is flying for a 27th time and will aim for a recovery landing downrange in the Atlantic on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas.
Space Launch Delta 45’s weather squadron forecasts an 80% chance for good conditions at the opening of the window at the launch site, but that slips to 70% as the window progresses. A delay to Saturday would see the forecast improve to 85%.
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This would mark the 40th launch from the Space Coast in 2026 with SpaceX responsible for all but six of them with United Launch Alliance having flown four times using one Vulcan and three Atlas V rockets, Blue Origin once with New Glenn and NASA once with its Space Launch System rocket on the Artemis II mission.
The launch comes on the day SpaceX becomes a publicly traded company with investors expected to snatch up 555.6 million shares going up for sale at $135 apiece.
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The IPO could drive Musk to become the world’s first trillionaire.