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SpaceX has managed to use a Falcon 9 rocket stage six times. That’s a new record for the company. The booster that fired a new batch of Starlink satellites into space on Tuesday had been used five times before. The sixth landing was also successful.
SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket at 4:31 PM Dutch time. After launching the payload, the first rocket stage successfully landed again the drone ship called Of Course I Still Love You.
It is a Block 5 version of SpaceX its Falcon 9 booster, with serial number B1049. The rocket stage in question was first used in September 2018 for a launch of Iridium. In May 2019, January and June 2020, SpaceX used the same booster to launch Starlink satellites. SpaceX has multiple Block 5 boosters that have been reused five times.
It is the first time that a Faclon 9 booster has been launched and landed for the sixth time. In theory, the boosters can be reused dozens of times. There are not yet any concrete plans for a next launch with this copy.
On board the nose cone this time were 58 Starlink satellites from SpaceX itself and 3 SkySats from the Planet company. A total of some 600 satellites have now been launched for the Starlink network; SpaceX plans to launch a total of about 12,000 of them, for a global satellite internet network.
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