SpaceX has postponed the launch of the X-37B robot spaceplane December 28.

SpaceX said that it planned to launch the US military's X-37B robot spaceplane on its seventh orbital mission on Thursday, December 28.

SpaceX stated in a post on X on Friday that it was "now targeting no earlier than Thursday, December 28 for Falcon Heavy to launch USSF-52 to orbit from Florida." Earlier this week, the company had cancelled the launch in order to complete further system checkouts.

The adjustment was made without explanation from the firm. About fifteen minutes prior to the debut on X, a live broadcast of the event is planned to start. 21 Starlink satellites will be launched into low-Earth orbit by the rocket.

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SpaceX offers high-speed broadband satellite internet access via Starlink.

According to the business, the first six Starlink satellites with Direct to Cell capabilities will be launched, allowing mobile network operators to give worldwide access to messaging, talking, and browsing.

This will also be the rocket's first stage booster's first flight. SpaceX intends to land the booster on its Of Course I Still Love You droneship once it separates from the remainder of the rocket in order to reuse it in future missions.

This late-night Friday mission, on the other hand, will contain the first six Starlink satellites with direct-to-cell capability. The new feature, according to SpaceX, "will enable mobile network operators around the world to provide seamless global access to texting, calling and browsing… on land, lakes or coastal waters."

The launch window for the Falcon 9 rocket supporting the mission is scheduled to open at 9:19 p.m. PST (12:19 a.m. EST, 0519 UTC). Starting around 30 minutes before liftoff, Spaceflight Now will provide live coverage of the mission.

Beginning with this direct-to-cell pledge for the Starlink network, SpaceX founder Elon Musk made a commitment in August 2022 at a gathering at Starbase in Texas with T-Mobile CEO and President Mike Sievert.

According to Musk, the technology will eradicate dead zones in even the most distant regions of the globe and constitute a "huge game changer."

"This is a big deal, this really is," Musk declared at the presentation. "Your phone would continue to function even if all cell towers were destroyed due to a strong hurricane, floods, fires, tornadoes, or earthquakes, which would cause an entire region or country to lose connectivity."

In an email dated Nov. 30, 2023, SpaceX stated that it plans to launch "approximately 840 direct-to-cell capable satellites over the next 6 months, with additional launches continuing after that period" to Kathyrn Medley, the acting division chief of the Federal Communication's (FCC) Satellite Licencing Division.

Therefore, Dempsey wrote, "We request that the launch licence include authority for all 7500 satellites in our direct-to-cell modification application, even though we understand that the Commission may limit our experimental authority to the satellites we expect to launch and test in the next six months."

During the August 2022 event, Sievert mentioned that the planned U.S. service will make use of the mid-band PCS spectrum now used by T-Mobile.

Musk stated during the event last year that the antenna will be around 25 square metres, or five or six metres on one side. When it turned out that Starship was "delayed longer than expected," he said that the Starlink V2 Mini satellites would have to serve as a standby alternative.

Together with the fifteen standard Starlink V2 Mini satellites, the six direct-to-cell satellites will be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket equipped with a newly designed first stage booster. The booster will land on the droneship "Of Course I Still Love You" in the Pacific Ocean after stage separation.

The payload fairings containing the Starlink satellites are flight proven, based on the images released by SpaceX, although the number of missions performed by the business was not disclosed prior to launch.