SpaceX sets a rocket-reuse record with Falcon 9 launch
The next step for the company is the "megarocket" Starship, which is designed to be completely reusable multiple times a day.
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 was spotted leaving behind a “jellyfish cloud” over Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Aug. 25. The rocket launched before sunrise from Florida carrying 29 Starlink satellites.
Aug. 25 (UPI) -- In its 100th Falcon 9 launch of the year, SpaceX marked a record-setting 37 missions for the rocket's first-stage booster, a reuse milestone.
The rocket launched early Tuesday from Cape Canaveral in Florida, carrying 29 Starlink internet satellites. There are already more than 11,000 Starlink satellites in orbit, making it the largest satellite constellation so far.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket creates an exhaust plume during the pre-dawn hours as it launches an additional 29 Starlink satellites at 5:33 a.m. Tuesday from at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
Falcon 9 rockets include extensive reuse of boosters, with nine of the company's boosters making at least 30 flights. The one used Tuesday, B1067, entered service in June 2021. About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the booster landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean as the upper stage continued on to low Earth orbit.
Falcon 9 rockets flew 165 missions -- all of them successful -- in 2025. The reuse of the boosters makes the rockets cheaper and more efficient to use. While competitors have been working toward the same concept, SpaceX is so far the only one to manage it.
A time exposure of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is shown as it launches early Tuesday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
The next step for the company is the "megarocket" Starship, which is designed to be completely reusable multiple times a day. Only the Falcon 9 boosters are reusable.
Tuesday's launch is expected to be the final one for Falcon 9 rockets in Florida. Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX vice president of launch operations, confirmed this in a social media post Tuesday.
"From here on, Starlink missions out of Florida will fly on Starship," Dontchev wrote. "The West Coast team will continue regularly launching Starlink from Vandenberg." This refers to Vandenberg Base in California.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches early Tuesday from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla. (Photo Credit: Joe Marino/UPI | License Photo)
SpaceX has not yet tested Starship in orbit. The next launch is expected in mid-September from Texas. If that one goes well, the next Starship launch will be from Florida.
"Once Starship is flying reliably several times a week, it makes sense to shift ... production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post Saturday.
Falcon 9 rockets launched for the first time in 2010. There have been nearly 700 launches since.
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