SpaceX launched 53 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on Friday, from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The company’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 12:09 p.m. ET and it set a reuse record with its 13th launch and landing, with the latter taking place on SpaceX’s droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas, floating in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship – marking SpaceX’s first 13th flight of a first stage booster and 100th successful mission with a flight proven orbital class rocket! pic.twitter.com/6XjfcOPuUh
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 17, 2022
This particular Falcon 9 booster, B1060, previously supported GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, and now 10 Starlink missions.
Today’s launch was also the 100th successful mission with a flight proven orbital class rocket, says SpaceX. You can watch the full replay below:
Today’s launch was the first of a triple header set to take place over the next three days. On Saturday, Falcon 9 will launch a radar remote sensing satellite built by Airbus for the German military, as part of the SARah 1 mission. The launch is slated to take place from Vandenberg SFB in California on Saturday morning at 7:19 a.m. PDT.
On early Sunday EDT, SpaceX will launch the Globalstar-2 FM15 mission, carrying a classified payload for the U.S. government, while also adding a spare Globalstar-2 satellite as rideshare. This will take place from Cape Canaveral in Florida, at 12:27 a.m. EDT.
Targeting Sunday, June 19 at 12:27 a.m. ET for a Falcon 9 launch of Globalstar FM15 to orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 17, 2022
