SpaceX launched one of its Falcon 9 rockets for the 13th time today (June 17), setting a new record for reuse.
The two-stage Falcon 9 took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida today at 12:09 p.m. EDT (1609 GMT), orbiting 53 StarXink Internet satellites on SpaceX. This was the first of three rocket launches in three days from three different sites that SpaceX plans to launch.
The 53 satellites were in low Earth orbit about 15.5 minutes after launch, as planned. But there was action before that: about 8.5 minutes after takeoff, the first stage of the Falcon 9 landed on Earth for the vertical landing of the SpaceX A Shortfall of Gravitas drone, which was located in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida.
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The first stage of SpaceX Falcon 9 rests on the drone A Shortfall of Gravitas shortly after landing for the record 13th time, on June 17, 2022 (Image credit: SpaceX)
It was the 13th launch and landing for this first phase of Falcon 9, setting a new record for SpaceX reuse. The booster previously helped launch a GPS satellite, a Turkish communications satellite, various spacecraft in the Transporter 2 rideshare mission and nine Starlink batches, according to the SpaceX mission description (opens in a new section).
Such an extensive review is a high priority for SpaceX and its billionaire founder and CEO Elon Musk. Musk has repeatedly said that rapid and full reuse is the key breakthrough that will allow humanity to establish Mars and achieve a number of other ambitious space flights.
Starlink is the constellation of Internet satellites of SpaceX. The company has already launched more than 2,700 Starlink spacecraft (opening in a new section) and the number will continue to increase in the future; The next-generation version of the network could possibly consist of up to 30,000 satellites (opens in a new section).
Today’s mission launched a planned tripleheader rocket for SpaceX, which also intends to launch a radar satellite for the German military on Saturday morning (June 18th) and a commercial communications satellite early Sunday (June 19th).
This intense 36-hour stretch will last a very busy year for SpaceX. The company has already launched 24 missions in 2022, 15 of which are dedicated to Starlink flights.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 12:30 PM EDT (1630 GMT) on June 17 with news of a successful takeoff, rocket landing and satellite deployment.
Mike Wall is the author of the book “Outside (opens in a new section)” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) or on Facebook (opens in a new tab).
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