SpaceX unveiled a rare new Falcon 9 booster for the company’s latest launch in 2021, highlighting just how widespread the reuse of the company’s rocket is.
The mission – CRS-24, the fourth International Space Station (ISS) supply Cargo Dragon 2 – will be SpaceX’s 31st Falcon 9 launch this year, easily topping the record-breaking 26 launches set by the company in 2020. However, CRS – 24 will only be the second time this year SpaceX has launched a (new) Falcon booster that hasn’t been launched yet, meaning all of its other 29 missions (roughly 94%) have successfully relied on a flight-proven missile.
In other words, in less than five years, SpaceX has completed re-use of its first Falcon 9 (SES-10 – March 2017) to launch nearly 30 times a year without a single new booster. The only other time SpaceX has flown the new booster this year is the CRS-22, which successfully launched the Falcon 9 B1067 and the new C209 Cargo Dragon 2 capsule in June.
Six months later, the Falcon 9 B1069 is scheduled to launch with another launch New Cargo Dragon 2 capsule – Most likely C211 (11th Dragon 2) – to the International Space Station. Carrying nearly 3 tons (6,500 pounds) of consumables, station parts and science experiments, the Dragon is scheduled to lift off from board Kennedy Space Center (KSC) 39A not before (NET) 5:06 am EDT (10:06 UTC) on Tuesday. , December 21. However, the weather is clearly looking unfavorable, and the CRS-24 currently has a 70% chance of clearing the bad conditions at Cape Canaveral and descending into the Atlantic. Weather forecast December 22 Spare Tires currently predict a 60% better chance of favorable conditions.
Regardless, when CRS-24 launches, it will set a number of milestones and set several new records for SpaceX. In addition to setting up a record 31 SpaceX launches this year, CRS-24 will also be the third Falcon launch in just 69 hours – less than three days. Prior to that, SpaceX’s triple launch record was set as recently as November 2020 when it launched three Falcon 9 Crew-1, Sentinel 6A, and Starlink V1 L15 rockets just nine days (~217 hours) apart. If SpaceX could find a hole in the metaphorical cloud and launch on December 21, it would beat that record by more than threefold.
In addition, including Starlink 4-3 and NASA’s IXPE mission, CRS-24 will originate from SpaceX. Fifth Orbit launch in December 2021 – the first time the company has launched more than four times in a month. Even more impressively, if CRS-24 were to launch before Thursday, December 23, it would be SpaceX’s fifth launch at less than three weeks. If not in December, it’s likely that SpaceX has cut its sixth launch in the last few days of the year. Instead, most SpaceXers will have some time off before early 2022.
Incredibly, not even counting the Starlink missions, which account for more than half of SpaceX 2021 launches, the company has most widely Commercial Falcon 39 launches tentatively in 2022. If you want to continue with Starlink’s regular launches and their never-before-filled statements, it won’t be long before SpaceX’s next fifth launch.
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