Image: SpaceX
SpaceX has now flown its Falcon 9 rocket 700 times, after a Friday night launch of 27 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, according to a count from Spaceflight Now.
According to SpaceX’s mission page, Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg on Friday and delivered the satellites to low Earth orbit. The first stage was on its 18th flight and landed on the Of Course I Still Love You droneship in the Pacific Ocean.
Spaceflight Now identified the booster as B1093 and said the Starlink 15-18 flight was Falcon 9’s 700th overall. SpaceX later posted ascent photos from California after confirming the 27 satellites had deployed.
Elon Musk congratulated the team on Saturday.
“Congrats to the @SpaceX team on over 700 Falcon 9 flights!” Musk posted.
Seven hundred flights would have looked impossible when Falcon 9 first flew in June 2010. SpaceX stuck its first orbital-class booster landing in December 2015 and flew a previously used first stage for the first time in March 2017, turning reuse from a demo into everyday hardware.
Reuse is now the point of the fleet. Fairing halves have already crossed 40 flights, and the same boosters bounce between Starlink batches, rideshares such as Bandwagon-5, and national security work. Musk has also said SpaceX will wind down Falcon once Starship reaches weekly flights, with a dual-stage catch still planned for Flight 15.
How many more Falcon 9 flights will fly before Starship takes over the heavy lifting?
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