SpaceX scrubs Starlink launch until Thursday, if weather cooperates

If the weather cooperates, Thursday's launch will be SpaceX's 15th Starlink mission.

Liftoff had been scheduled for 12:29 p.m. EDT Wednesday aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but controllers scrubbed the launch due to weather and rescheduled for 12:14 p.m. on Thursday.

With a launch Sunday, SpaceX increased the size of their Starlink constellation to nearly 800 satellites. The 15th mission will see another 60-odd satellites join the network.

"The goal of Starlink is to create a network that will help provide Internet services to those who are not yet connected, and to provide reliable and affordable Internet across the globe," according to the Kennedy Space Center.

Weather for Wednesday's planned launch had looked so-so and the Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron predicted a 60 percent chance of favorable conditions.

"A mid-level inverted trough and associated easterly wave currently across the Bahamas will meander into the state over the next few days, bringing enhanced moisture, cloud cover, and instability with a higher coverage of showers and storms," Space Force forecasters wrote.

They said Thursday's forecast looks quite similar to Wednesday's.

Earlier this month, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk tweeted that Starlink's constellation was big enough to begin beta-testing the Internet service system in both the United States and southern Canada.

SpaceX has already offered Starlink Internet services to emergency responders in wildfire-stricken areas of Washington State.

Washington's Hoh tribe is also using the Internet service to provide their members online education and telehealth services.