SpaceX launched its one centesimal rocket of the yr early Tuesday morning (Oct. 15), and adopted it up with one other liftoff simply hours later.
SpaceX’s centenary mission of the yr lifted off from Florida, with a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of the corporate’s Starlink web satellites aloft. The mission launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Area Pressure Station at 2:10 a.m. EDT (0610 GMT). As typical, the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster got here again to Earth safely, touching down on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” off the Florida coast about eight minutes after launch.
The corporate adopted up that milestone with one other launch two hours later, from the alternative U.S. coast. SpaceX’s a hundred and first liftoff of 2024 noticed 20 extra Starlinks soar to area from Vandenberg Area Pressure Base in California at 4:21 a.m. EDT (0821 GMT, or 1:21 a.m. native California time). The primary-stage booster from that flight additionally safely returned to Earth.
These two launches weren’t the one ones by SpaceX in latest days. For instance, the corporate’s Falcon Heavy rocket despatched NASA’s Europa Clipper mission towards the icy Jupiter ocean moon Europa on Monday (Oct. 14).
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As well as, SpaceX’s Starship megarocket soared to area Sunday (Oct. 13) on a check flight that featured a dramatic launch tower catch of the automobile’s Tremendous Heavy first stage. And Europe’s Hera probe flew to area aboard a Falcon 9 on Oct. 9, heading towards an asteroid beforehand smacked by NASA’s DART mission.
Much more remarkably, SpaceX solely acquired reauthorization to launch Falcon 9 missions on Oct. 11, after the rocket had a problem with its higher stage throughout the launch of the Crew-9 astronaut mission to the Worldwide Area Station on Sept. 28. (Hera was a one-time exception granted by the Federal Aviation Administration.)
SpaceX, actually, has confronted down three Falcon 9 anomalies and groundings in the previous couple of months and quickly returned to flight every time.
The primary concern, on July 11, occurred after an upper-stage propellant leak precipitated 20 Starlink satellites to be deployed at too low an altitude, resulting in their loss. The Falcon 9 was grounded for roughly two weeks after that incident.
On Aug. 28, a Falcon 9 first stage didn’t land safely after a profitable Starlink launch, however SpaceX had the rocket flying with FAA permission simply three days later. The FAA famous in an announcement Oct. 11 that it has “closed the SpaceX-led investigations for the Falcon 9 mishaps that occurred” on these two missions.
The motion of the previous few days pushed SpaceX previous its earlier file of 98 launches, set in 2023. SpaceX is essentially the most prolific launching entity on this planet. China is second this yr, with 47 missions to area up to now.
Falcon 9 rockets have carried out 96 of SpaceX’s 101 launches in 2024 up to now. Two-thirds of these Falcon 9 flights have been devoted to constructing out the Starlink megaconstellation. SpaceX has additionally launched two Falcon Heavy missions and three Starship check flights this yr.