SpaceX Booster Completes 30th Flight,defying industry Skepticism
VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE,CA - November 28,2025 – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 140 spacecraft on the Transporter-15 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base,marking a historic milestone in rocketry. The booster,identified as B1071,completed its 30th flight,becoming only the second in SpaceX’s fleet to reach this unprecedented level of reusability. SpaceX confirmed successful deployment of all payloads.
the achievement arrives after a two-day delay due to a ground systems issue, as reported by SpaceFlight Now. Elon Musk celebrated the event on X, stating simply, “30 flights of the same rocket!”
This feat represents a significant turning point in space travel, challenging long-held assumptions about the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of reusable rockets. Industry experts previously doubted whether reusability could deliver substantial savings or reliability, pointing to the limited success of the Space Shuttle program.
As recently as 2016, Ben Goldberg of Orbital ATK argued that even with reusability, rockets wouldn’t yield significant cost reductions, stating that fuel costs were only a small fraction of overall launch expenses. He estimated a maximum 30% cost reduction for low-Earth orbit missions, dismissing claims of larger savings as unrealistic, according to Ars Technica.
Similar skepticism was voiced in 2014 by former NASA official Dan Dumbacher, who questioned whether private companies like SpaceX could succeed where NASA had struggled with full reusability, overseeing the space Launch System program.
Booster B1071’s extensive flight history includes five National Reconnaissance Office missions, the deployment of NASA’s SWOT satellite, and multiple previous rideshare launches, demonstrating the versatility and durability of SpaceX’s reusable technology. This milestone underscores SpaceX’s commitment to lowering the cost of space access and increasing the frequency of launches.
