SpaceX launches 54 more Starlinks with a booster, making it its record-breaking 15th flight

SpaceX launched its third Falcon 9 rocket in less than two days Saturday, putting 54 Starlink internet satellites into orbit using a recycled first-stage booster and a record-breaking 15th flight. This was also the 59th launch for California Rocket Builder . year, nearly double the 2021 record.

Covered in soot from 14 previous re-entries, Merlin’s nine veteran first-stage engines roared at 4:32 p.m. EST, propelling the 229-foot rocket smoothly from historic Pad 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center.

Launched after a California trip Friday that sent a $1.2 billion ocean-monitoring satellite into orbit, and the Falcon 9 flight from Florida on Friday afternoon sent two SES mid-altitude broadband satellites into space.

Starlink was also scheduled to launch on Friday, but SpaceX delayed it to Saturday to “prioritize” the SES launch.

In any case, the B1058 first stage, which first flew in May 2020, helped boost You piloted the first Crew Dragon raft In space – The problem of free ascent to the dense lower atmosphere was solved on Saturday.

Two and a half minutes after launch, the platform broke apart and lifted off on its own to land on a landing barge on the beach. It was the SpaceX drone’s 124th landing and 158th successful recovery operation overall.

Meanwhile, the Falcon 9 second stage completed its ascent into space seconds after the booster rocket descended. 54 Starlink satellites launched simultaneously, bringing the total number of Starlink satellites launched by SpaceX to date to 3,612, with SpaceX continuing to fill the constellation of laser-connected broadband relay stations.

Not all of the satellites are still operational or in orbit, but space statistician Jonathan McDowell estimates that 3,230 were operational as of Saturday.

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 in 2021. Two more launches are expected this year: another Starlink flight from Cape Canaveral and the launch of an Israeli Earth-observing satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California. This would bring SpaceX’s total to 61 launches in 2022.

William Harwood

Bill Harwood has covered the US space program full time since 1984, first as Cape Canaveral bureau chief for United Press International and now as a consultant for CBS News. He has covered 129 space shuttle missions, every interplanetary flight since the flyby of Neptune on Voyager 2, and dozens of commercial and military launches. Based at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Harwood is a dedicated amateur astronomer and co-author of “Comm Check: The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia.”