SpaceX just performed three rocket launches and landings Falcon 9 in just three days. In fact, the missions took off in just 36 hours, marking the fastest trio of successive launches ever by a private spaceflight company.
The feat is all the more remarkable as it came amid an internal dispute at the company that saw multiple SpaceX employees fired after writing an open letter criticizing Elon Muskfounder and CEO of the company.
Controversy aside, mission controllers sent the first of three rockets into the sky on Friday, June 17, just after noon ET. The rocket departed from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying with it 53 Starlink satellites for SpaceX’s Internet from Space project. The first-stage booster returned safely, landing upright on a waiting drone in the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission marked the 13th flight for this Falcon 9 first-stage booster, which has previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2 and nine Starlink missions.
As usual, SpaceX shared images of the launch and landing on Twitter:
lift-off! pic.twitter.com/28eNKniMqe
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 17, 2022
And here is the propeller descending into the drone:
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship – marking SpaceX’s first 13th flight of a first stage booster and 100th successful mission with a flight proven orbital class rocket! pic.twitter.com/6XjfcOPuUh
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 17, 2022
For the second mission, which began at 10:19 a.m. ET on Saturday, June 18, SpaceX launched Germany’s SARah-1 radar reconnaissance satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The first stage booster made a perfect landing on the base shortly after pushing the second stage into orbit.
The flight marked the third launch and landing for this particular Falcon 9 booster, which previously launched the NROL-87 and NROL-85 missions.
lift-off! pic.twitter.com/yPInOsesbn
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 18, 2022
And here is the landing:
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on Landing Zone 4 pic.twitter.com/CfwzS6Y864
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 18, 2022
Finally, on Sunday, June 19 at 12:27 am ET, Falcon 9 launched the Globalstar FM15 communications satellite into low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral in Florida. As with Friday’s launch, the booster landed minutes later on a parked drone in the ocean.
According to SpaceX, the mission was the ninth launch and landing of this booster, which previously supported the launch of the Crew-1, Crew-2, SXM-8, CRS-23, IXPE, Transporter-4 and Transporter-5 missions, as well like a Starlink mission.
lift-off! pic.twitter.com/ukKB1OZEQ6
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2022
The third landing among the trio of successful missions:
Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship pic.twitter.com/3Mqa22OWqw
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) June 19, 2022
SpaceX has now achieved a total of 160 orbital flights with its Falcon 9 rocket since the first in 2010, using the vehicle to deploy satellites for a variety of customers, send astronauts to the space station and give private citizens the experience of a lifetime. . The latest launch was also number 26 for the Falcon 9 this year, as SpaceX moves quickly toward achieving its 2021 record of 31 launches in a calendar year.
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