 and nailed back-to-back booster landings just days after a recent failure.){kind=link}
SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets in just over an hour early Saturday morning (Aug. 31), achieving back-to-back landings of its boosters three days after a recent failure.
The two Falcon 9 launches, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Base in California, respectively, put a total of 42 Starlink internet satellites into orbit, with the first stage of each rocket landing offshore. SpaceX’s successful landings followed a failed Falcon 9 rocket landing on Aug. 28 during the 23rd flight of a rocket, a record for SpaceX.
“Great job SpaceX team,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after the double launch.
The space action began in Florida with the surprise predawn launch of SpaceX’s Starlink 8-10 mission, which lifted off at 3:43 a.m. EDT (0743 GMT) on a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink satellites, 13 of which are equipped with new “Direct to Cell” capabilities to connect directly with smartphones on Earth. (SpaceX has a deal with T-Mobile to provide direct cell access as it builds out a vast megaconstellation of Starlink satellites.)
The first-stage rocket completed its 18th launch and landing after completing 13 Starlink missions, a Dragon cargo flight for Agency, and three commercial satellite missions. It landed on SpaceX's unmanned ship Just Read The Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean.
Falcon 9 first stage lands on Just Read The Instructions drone ship, completing the booster's 18th launch and landing. pic.twitter.com/zScs23zrAQAugust 31, 2024
SpaceX followed up its Starlink launch from Florida with the Starlink 9-5 mission, which lifted off just 65 minutes later at 1:48 a.m. PDT (4:48 a.m. EDT/0848 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg.
That mission launched 21 additional Starlink satellites into orbit, including 13 more direct-to-airframe satellites, on the ninth flight of its Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket landed on SpaceX's unmanned ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean.
Falcon 9 lands on Of Course I Still Love You drone pic.twitter.com/0ta7MLEhhKAugust 31, 2024
The back-to-back Starlink mission launches came a day after SpaceX received clearance from the FAA to resume Falcon 9 launches even as the agency investigates the Aug. 28 booster rocket landing that occurred during another Starlink launch. That mission successfully put 21 Starlink satellites into orbit, but its booster rocket appeared to catch fire and tip over after landing on its unmanned craft.
Photographs of the rocket wreckage as the ship returned to port at Cape Canaveral taken by photographer John Kraus showed only the charred section of the rocket motor and the broken landing legs remaining.
There's not much left of Falcon 9 B1062. It's important to remember that with 23 flights under its belt, it's completed 22 more flights than any other orbital-class booster. Here's to its successful missions and many more reusability records broken with future rockets. pic.twitter.com/3S3O1unPXMAugust 30, 2024
“SpaceX's Falcon 9 vehicle may return to flight operations while the overall investigation into the anomaly during the Starlink Group 8-6 mission remains ongoing, provided all other license requirements are met,” FAA officials wrote in a statement late Friday (Aug. 30). SpaceX submitted the return-to-flight application on Aug. 29, and the FAA gave its approval on Aug. 30.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is preparing to launch its first crewed spaceflight since another Falcon 9 launch failure that led to the loss of 20 Starlink satellites in July and was blamed on a leak in the Falcon 9’s second stage. That crewed flight, called Polaris Dawn, has been delayed from Aug. 26 due to weather issues and additional rocket checks.
Backed by American billionaire Jared Isaacman, Polaris Dawn is an ambitious private spaceflight that will attempt the world's first commercial spacewalk and perform the highest orbital spaceflight since Agency's Apollo era.