SpaceX has now landed the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket 300 times.
The company hit that big milestone Friday night (June 7) when it launched 22 Starlink broadband satellites from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Liftoff took place at 9:56 p.m. EDT (0156 GMT on June 8). About 8.5 minutes later, Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth as planned, landing vertically on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was parked in the Atlantic Ocean.
„Falcon 9 lands for 300th time,” wrote SpaceX Post on X He shared a video of the milestone moment.
Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky
Falcon 9 lands for 300th time pic.twitter.com/syimP1jcxlJune 8, 2024
Step one is the 16th launch and landing for this particular booster SpaceX mission description. 12 of them are dedicated to Starlink missions.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, carried 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit. Sorting them out 52.5 minutes after takeoff.
Tonight’s launch will be SpaceX’s 59th orbital mission of the year. Forty-two of them are dedicated to building the Starlink megaconstellation, which currently exists More than 6,000 operational satellites.
The above figure does not count the launches of SpaceX’s Starship megarocket, which has lifted off on two test flights so far this year. The most recent one occurred yesterday (June 6) and was a rousing success as both stages of the large vehicle splashed down on their planned sea landing zones.
Editor’s note: This story was updated on June 7 at 11:45 p.m. EDT with news of the successful launch, rocket landing and satellite deployment.
„Oddany rozwiązywacz problemów. Przyjazny hipsterom praktykant bekonu. Miłośnik kawy. Nieuleczalny introwertyk. Student.