SpaceX completed three Falcon launches, four first-stage landings and the docking of a Dragon capsule to the International Space Station in under 13 hours, the company said Friday.
The tally makes the mission the company’s 21st human spaceflight, with Dragon’s docking capping a day that opened with three Falcons standing vertical on launch pads ahead of the triple-launch day. SpaceX said teams completed the launches, the landings and the docking across sites in Florida and California.
All four first stages touched down at four separate landing zones, a detail that points to boosters returning to both coasts during the sprint. Triple-launch days were still a rarity for the company not long ago, and pulling one off now shows how far its multi-pad operations have come. The manifest included a Falcon Heavy carrying the NROL-97 mission, which had rolled out to Pad 39A earlier in the week. Recovering four first stages in one day also feeds the company’s booster fleet, keeping flight-proven hardware in rotation for the missions ahead.
The sprint also continues a packed stretch, coming days after Starship Flight 14 deployed a new set of Starlink V3 satellites. Fitting three orbital launches, four booster recoveries and a station docking into a sub-13-hour window shows how routine rapid reuse has become for SpaceX.
With the 21st crewed mission now docked, attention turns to how quickly SpaceX can turn its pads around for the next Falcon flights on the manifest. If this week is any indication, the wait for the next multi-launch day will not be a long one.
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