SpaceX โฃBooster Completes โค30th Flight,defying industry Skepticism
VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE,CA โข- November 28,2025 – A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 140 spacecraft on the Transporter-15 mission from Vandenberg โSpaceโค Force Base,marking a historicโ milestone โฃin rocketry.โข The booster,identified as B1071,completed its 30th flight,becoming onlyโข the second in SpaceX’s fleet to reach this unprecedentedโ level of reusability. SpaceX confirmed successful deployment of all payloads.
the achievement โฃarrives after a two-day delay due to aโ ground systems issue, as reported by SpaceFlight Now. Elon Musk celebrated the event on X, statingโ simply, “30 flights of the same rocket!”
This feat represents โaโ significant turning point โinโฃ space travel, challenging long-held assumptions about the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of reusable rockets. Industry experts previously doubtedโค whether reusability โcouldโฃ deliver substantial savings or reliability, pointing to the limited success of theโ Space Shuttle program.
As recently as 2016, Ben Goldberg of Orbital ATKโ argued โthat even withโ reusability, rockets โคwouldn’t yield significant cost reductions, stating that fuel costs were only a smallโข fraction of overall launch expenses. He estimated a maximum 30% cost reduction for low-Earthโ orbitโฃ missions, dismissing claims of larger savings as unrealistic, โคaccording toโ Ars Technica.
Similar skepticism was voiced in 2014 by former NASA official โฃDan Dumbacher, โwho questioned whetherโค 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, โคdemonstrating the versatility and durability of SpaceX’s reusable technology. This milestone underscores SpaceX’s commitment to lowering โthe cost of space access and increasing the frequency of launches.
