SpaceX launched its latest Falcon 9 rocket on a Starlink mission when Tropical Storm Helene postponed the launch of the next mission to the International Space Station.

The launch of the Starlink 9-8 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California took place at 9:01 PM PDT (12:01 PM EDT, 0401 UTC). This was SpaceX’s 64th Starlink launch of the year.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster supporting this mission, tail number B1081 in the SpaceX fleet, was launched for the 10th time. It previously supported the launch of two missions to the space station (Crew-7 and CRS-29), two climate monitoring satellites (NASA’s PACE and ESA’s EarthCARE) and the Transporter-10 rideshare mission.

Just over eight minutes after launch, B1081 landed on the SpaceX drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ This was the 103rd booster landing for OCISLY and the 351st booster landing to date.

Among the twenty Starlink V2 Mini satellites flying during the mission, thirteen have the Direct to Cell function. Successful deployment of all satellites will bring the total number of DTC Starlink satellites launched to 233.

Starlink’s high-speed internet is now available in Burundi! 🛰️🇧🇮❤️ → https://t.co/p23nRZUB2C pic.twitter.com/mHtu5ZNVum

— Starlink (@Starlink) September 24, 2024

On Tuesday morning, SpaceX announced that the Republic of Burundi was the latest country to gain access to the Starlink internet service. In a post on .

“Great to see Burundi live for Starlink sales. At the UN General Assembly last year, I had the opportunity to meet with President Ndayishimiye to discuss this possibility,” Dreyer wrote. “We appreciate everyone who helped make this a reality.”

The announcement was first shared by Burundi’s Telecommunications Regulatory and Supervisory Authority on Monday. ARCT Director General Samuel Muhizi said in a letter (written in French and translated using Google Translate) that the purpose of offering the service was “to contribute to the provision of fast and reliable internet access in our country and for all will be accessible. private individuals and companies who want to benefit from the service.”

“The ARCT remains committed to closely monitoring Starlink’s activities to ensure compliance with current regulations, optimal service quality and consumer protection,” Muhizi wrote in his letter as translated by Google Translate. “Our goal is to promote fair access to communications technologies. ARCT is confident that the addition of this low earth orbit satellite internet access to Burundi’s ecosystem of access technologies to provide high-speed internet connectivity will improve broadband connectivity.”

Crew-9 weather delay

While the SpaceX team on the West Coast prepared for the Starlink 9-8 launch, those on the East Coast worked on the next crewed launch to the ISS. On Tuesday, NASA and SpaceX walked through the dry dress rehearsal with NASA astronaut Nick Haag and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexandr Gorbunov in the loop.

SpaceX then conducted a static fire test of B1085 at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) on the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. These preparations will pave the way for the first manned launch from the SLC-40 in its history.

While pre-launch activities remain on schedule, the effects of Tropical Storm Helene are changing the launch timeline. In their fifth advisory, meteorologists from the 45th Weather Squadron predict the storm will become a Category 1 hurricane by Wednesday, September 25, at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC) as the center of the storm moves into the Gulf of Mexico.

They predict that Helene will approach landfall along the Florida Panhandle as a Category 3 hurricane on Thursday, September 26 around 8:00 PM EDT (0000 UTC). Due to possible weather impacts, NASA has postponed the mission until no earlier than Saturday, September 28.

When the expedition launches, Den Haag and Gorbunov will join the ISS crew members to be part of Expedition 72. They will remain in orbit until approximately February 2025, when they will join NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams will return to Earth.

Falcon 9 and Dragon rolled out and went vertical on pad 40 in Florida pic.twitter.com/RUGF1UBxLK

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 24, 2024