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SpaceX has postponed the launch of 21 new Starlink satellites until early Tuesday due to the impact of Hurricane Hillary in the Pacific Ocean. The Falcon 9 rocket carrying the spacecraft was initially scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on August 21, but the launch has been delayed due to the effects of the hurricane.

The delay is a result of the impact of Hurricane Hillary on missile recovery operations in the Pacific. SpaceX is recovering the first stage of its Falcon 9 boosters by landing them on a drone ship in the Pacific Ocean about 8 minutes after launch.

Hurricane Hillary is currently a powerful Category 4 storm located south of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It is expected to move towards the western coast of Baja Mexico and reach southern California on August 20.

Once SpaceX is able to proceed with the launch, it will be live-streamed on SpaceX.com. The coverage is expected to start five minutes before liftoff.

If all goes according to plan, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage will return to Earth and land on SpaceX’s drone ship called “Of Course I Still Love You” approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff. This will be the 15th launch and landing for this booster.

SpaceX has already launched nearly 5,000 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO), but the company has permission to deploy a total of 12,000 satellites. Additionally, they have applied for approval to fly another 30,000 satellites.

The new target launch date for the Starlink mission is August 22.

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