SpaceX suspends launch of Starlink satellite due to apparent helium leak in rocket

SpaceX canceled the launch of its Starlink satellites this weekend due to a problem with one of its rockets.

The company was scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of its Starlink satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Sunday (Nov. 3), but SpaceX kept the countdown to two minutes and 36 seconds due to an apparent helium leak.

“Hold, hold, hold. Stand down for helium, stage one,” shouted a member of the SpaceX team during the live broadcast of the planned launch on X (formerly Twitter). No new launch date has been set for the mission, called Starlink 6-77. SpaceX has scheduled another Falcon 9 rocket launch for Monday (November 4), the CRS-31 robotic resupply flight to the International Space Station (ISS), currently scheduled for 9:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT on Tuesday, November 5). is planned. .

When the Starlink 6-77 mission actually launches, its Falcon 9 first stage booster will come back down and land on the Just Read the Instructions drone ship waiting off the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.

This is the third scheduled flight of this special launch vehicle, which also launched the Crew-9 astronaut mission for NASA.

This launch saw only two astronauts fly to the ISS in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, as opposed to the usual four; Two seats were left vacant to make room for two NASA astronauts currently aboard the ISS, whose spacecraft, Boeing's Starliner capsule, landed uncrewed in September 2024 due to safety concerns after a bumpy first crewed flight.

The Starlink 6-77 mission and similar Starlink launches are all aimed at expanding SpaceX's massive mega-constellation of broadband internet satellites. The company has already launched 100 Falcon 9 rockets in 2024, and most of them were aimed at putting more Starlink spacecraft into orbit.

SpaceX currently operates nearly 6,500 Starlink satellites in orbit and plans to launch thousands more. The satellites were used to provide vital communications in hard-hit areas after natural disasters such as Hurricane Helene or after conflicts such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But many astronomers have expressed concern about the ever-growing Starlink mega-constellation and similar constellations, citing the impact on the environment, the satellites' impact on astronomy and the optical interference they cause in the night sky.

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