Recently, SpaceX set a launch record.
At 10:47 p.m. EDT (02:47 a.m. GMT on September 4), the company launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 of its Starlink broadband satellites into orbit from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
According to company founder and CEO Elon Musk, it was SpaceX’s 62nd orbital mission of 2023, breaking the previous record for the most flights in a calendar year. Previously, the bar was 2022.
Tonight, the first stage of the Falcon 9 successfully landed on Earth. It landed on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions, which was positioned in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 8.5 minutes after taking off.
According to a SpaceX mission description, this exact booster had successfully launched and landed 10 times.
Meanwhile, the upper stage of the Falcon 9 continued to fly. About 65 minutes after launch, it is planned to send the 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO).
The launch was a significant event in SpaceX’s day. The four astronauts from Crew-6, who have been in the International Space Station (ISS) since March, are also being returned to Earth by the business.
A little after 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT), Crew-6’s Crew Dragon capsule, called Endeavour, left the International Space Station. At about 12:17 a.m. EDT (04:17 GMT), it will splash down in the water off the coast of Florida. When the time comes, you can see that achievement right here on Space.com.
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