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The Falcon 9 booster assigned to SpaceX’s first Starlink launch of the new year is set to become the world’s fastest reusable rocket on Monday, January 18.
Prior to 2020, SpaceX’s Block 5 booster rotation record – referring to the time between two launches of the same rocket – was set by two Falcon Heavy side boosters after supporting two of the rocket’s three total launches in just 74. days. In mid-2018, a pre-Block 5 Falcon 9 booster technically went a step further, flying twice in 71 days. Although impressive, the reuse speed of SpaceX’s Falcon Block 5 booster has remained firmly behind the NASA Space Shuttle, the only operational reusable orbital-class rocket before Falcon.
While already significantly more cost-effective and labor-efficient than the extremely complex Space Shuttle refurbishment process, SpaceX’s established turnaround capabilities would start to make huge strides in 2020. In July, the inevitable finally happened when a Falcon 9 booster was launched for the second time in just 51 days, breaking NASA’s record 54 days of space shuttle rotation.
The Falcon 9 B1060 booster achieved the same 51-day feat just three months later, proving that B1058’s record was no fluke. Ultimately, during 2020, each Falcon 9 thruster flew – excluding runtime outliers greater than 200 days – averaging about 85 days between launches.
Now, in the second of a dozen SpaceX launches slated for 2021, the company is set to set aside the world record for recovery set by Falcon 9 less than six months earlier. Originally slated for launch on January 17, SpaceX delayed the Starlink-16 (V1 L16) mission to 8:45 a.m. EST (1:45 p.m. UTC) on January 18 for unspecified reasons. Around the same time that this delay became clear, Next Spaceflight was the first to report that SpaceX had assigned the Falcon 9 B1051 booster at launch.
Last flown for the seventh time on December 13, the Falcon 9 B1051 is now expected to attempt its eighth orbital-class launch and landing 36 days later, breaking the 51-day world record by almost a third (~ 30 %) and simultaneously becoming the first Falcon booster to be cast eight times. If successful, SpaceX’s Falcon rockets will be days away from demonstrating their monthly reusability.
Tune in tomorrow morning to witness SpaceX’s last record-breaking rocket launch live.
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