SpaceX
- SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket booster for a record-breaking 9th time.
- The rocket delivered a payload of Starlink satellites, bringing the total to 180 launched in the past two weeks.
- The launch underscores Space X's Falcon 9 reusability program.
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SpaceX on Sunday launched a new batch of 6o Starlink internet satellites into orbit, with the payload delivered by its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.
The launch set a record for the Falcon 9, a reusable launch vehicle, which logged its ninth flight and ninth landing for the first-stage booster.
Elon Musk's SpaceX set its previous reusability record in January this year as part of another Starlink launch – using the same first-stage booster, which had just flown in December of the year before last. The company not only wants to show that it can re-fly these boosters, but also that the turnaround for the booster units is rapid.
The two-stage rocket shot off from Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Flor dia at 6:01 a.m. EDT.
The 60 Starlink satellites launched Sunday was the third batch in just two weeks. It brings the total in orbit to over 1,000.
Over the next few decades, Musk is hoping to send 42,000 satellites to space with the aim of bringing high-speed internet to every corner of the world- from the rainforest to Antarctica.
-SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 14, 2021
The launch comes just days after the firm's last flight, with a Falcon 9 rocket skyrocketing off from a neighboring Space Launch Complex 40, at Cape Canaveral.
No sight of a single cloud in the sky, onlookers were treated to an extraordinary view of the rocket climbing into orbit, Space.com reports.