A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket has set a new record.
SpaceX has set a new record with one of its most frequently used Falcon 9 boosters.
In a remarkable mission carried out in the early hours of Monday, the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket made history by becoming the first to launch and land 27 times. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at midnight on April 14, carrying 27 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
SpaceX has implemented an ingenious system that allows for the reuse of the rocket's first stage, landing the booster vertically either on land or on a barge, known as a "droneship," that drifts off the coast of Florida. In Monday's mission, the rocket landed on the Just Read the Instructions barge approximately eight minutes after launch.
This particular booster, designated B1067, has an impressive track record, having participated in launches such as CRS-22, Crew-3, Turksat 5B, Crew-4, CRS-25, Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G, O3B mPOWER-A, PSN SATRIA, Telkomsat Merah Putih 2, Galileo L13, and Koreasat-6A, in addition to its 16 Starlink missions. Before Monday's mission, B1067 last flew on February 15, when it also sent a series of Starlink satellites into space.
The ability to reuse the first stage of the rocket has allowed SpaceX to significantly reduce launch costs, making space access easier for a greater number of commercial companies, government agencies, and scientific institutions wishing to deploy satellites in orbit. After several failed attempts, SpaceX successfully achieved its first landing of a Falcon 9 booster in 2015, and since then, the team has refined the process.
SpaceX engineers have applied their experience in the development of the next-generation Starship rocket. This rocket, with a 71-meter first-stage booster called Super Heavy, returns to Earth to be retrieved by massive mechanical claws from the launch tower. SpaceX anticipates that, with ongoing development, flights of the Starship using the same Super Heavy booster could be possible in just a few days, once checks and refurbishment work are completed. The Starship is expected to transport crew and cargo to the Moon as part of NASA's Artemis program, as well as conduct the first crewed mission to Mars, potentially in the 2030s.