SpaceX is gearing up for a return to flight with the Falcon 9 rocket, following a brief stand-down period. The mission, Starlink 17-33, is set to launch 25 new satellites into low Earth orbit, joining the existing 9,600+ satellites in the Starlink constellation. The liftoff is scheduled for Saturday, February 7th, at 12:41 p.m. PST from Vandenberg Space Force Base. This will be the 13th flight of the Falcon 9 booster with tail number 1088, following previous missions like NASA's SPHEREx and Transporter-12. The rocket will aim for a landing on the drone ship 'Of Course I Still Love You' in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff, marking the 176th landing on this vessel and the 568th booster landing for SpaceX. This return to flight comes after a rare quiet period and some delayed missions, with SpaceX originally planning to launch the Starlink 6-103 mission on February 3rd. However, an in-flight anomaly during the Starlink 17-32 mission led to a delay, and the FAA's investigation into the issue allowed SpaceX to resume flights. The issue was traced to a failure in the Falcon 9 stage 2 engine before the deorbit burn, and SpaceX has implemented preventative measures to avoid recurrence. NASA has also assessed the situation, concluding that the crewed flight to the International Space Station is safe and poses no increased risk to crew safety during ascent.
