SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching on record-breaking 24th flight early Dec. 4
SpaceX has just set a new rocket-reuse record.
One of the company’s Falcon 9 rockets lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday (Dec. 4) at 5:13 a.m. EST (1013 GMT). The mission will deliver 24 of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO).
It was the 24th launch for this Falcon 9’s first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description. That will top the old mark of 23 flights, which is held by three different boosters.
Related: Starlink satellite train: how to see and track it in the night sky
The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth for its 24th landing about eight minutes after liftoff. It touched down vertically on the drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas,” which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued on to deploy the 24 Starlink satellites in LEO.
Wednesday’s mission notched up yet another milestone for SpaceX’s Falcon rocket family, which consists of the workhorse Falcon 9 and the more powerful Falcon Heavy. SpaceX has launched more than 400 successful Falcon 9 missions to date and has landed Falcon first stages 377 times.
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever assembled. It currently consists of more than 6,750 operational satellites, and that number is growing all the time.
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