A SpaceX Falcon 9 first-stage booster launched and landed for a record-tying twenty second time on Sunday night time.
The Falcon 9 lifted off from Area Launch Complicated 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Area Pressure Base in California at simply after 7 p.m. PT, carrying with it the Area Norway Arctic Satellite tv for pc Broadband Mission (ASBM).
SpaceX reside streamed the launch on social media:
Liftoff of ASBM! pic.twitter.com/S3vPmJqeUt
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 12, 2024
About eight minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster made an ideal upright touchdown on the Of Course I Nonetheless Love You droneship stationed within the Pacific Ocean.
Falcon 9’s first stage lands on the Of Course I Nonetheless Love You droneship – finishing this booster’s twenty second launch and touchdown! pic.twitter.com/nk4xwQnAMw
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) August 12, 2024
The booster, listed as B1061, will now be introduced again to land, checked over, and refurbished in readiness for its twenty third flight.
The booster beforehand launched Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4, Transporter-5, Globalstar FM15, ISI EROS C-3, Korea 425, Maxar 1, and 10 Starlink missions. It’s tied with B1062, which launched and landed for the twenty second time in June.
Earlier than Sunday’s mission, B1061’s most up-to-date flight befell on June 8, deploying a batch of Starlink satellites, whereas its first launch befell in November 2020 when it despatched SpaceX’s Crew-1 astronauts to the Worldwide Area Station within the Crew Dragon spacecraft’s first operational mission.
B1061 has one other declare to fame for changing into the primary booster to launch from all of SpaceX’s completely different launch websites and returning to all of its operational drone ships and touchdown zones (besides the not often used LZ-2 at Cape Canaveral in Florida).
SpaceX’s system of reusing its first-stage booster permits for quicker turnaround, extra frequent launches, and a discount in launch prices, thereby opening up house entry to extra corporations and organizations keen on deploying satellites in orbit.
One of many main achievements in growing the system was discovering a approach to carry out an upright touchdown of the 41.2-meter-tall booster on the launch website or on a platform within the ocean, enabling straightforward restoration and refurbishment.
