SpaceX delays next Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral due to hardware issue

SpaceX has delayed the launch of its next Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral due to hardware issues, the launch provider confirmed Saturday evening.

"Standing down from (Sunday's) Starlink launch," SpaceX said via Twitter. "Team is taking a closer look at a second-stage valve component."

The Falcon 9 rocket is now scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 40 about 10:04 a.m. Monday. The Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron is expecting 80% "go" conditions for the attempt.

After liftoff, the rocket's first stage will return for a computer-controlled landing on the drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic Ocean. It will be its 50th landing to date. 

Squeezed into Falcon 9's payload fairing are 60 flat-packed Starlink satellites, which are designed to beam internet access to the ground. Monday's flight will mark the fifth mission for Starlink, which will boast 300 spacecraft in low-Earth orbit after the satellites separate from the upper stage about an hour after liftoff.

Launch Monday

• Rocket: SpaceX Falcon 9
• Mission: 60 Starlink satellites
• Launch time: About 10:04 a.m.
• Location: 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
• Landing: Drone ship named Of Course I Still Love You 
• Weather: 80% "go"

Join floridatoday.com/space at 8:30 a.m. Monday for countdown chat and updates including streaming of SpaceX's launch webcast.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly. Support his space journalism by subscribing at floridatoday.com/specialoffer/.