SpaceX Starlink launch sets Falcon 9 rocket record

SpaceX launched the 16th batch of its Starlink broadband satellites from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Tuesday evening, setting a record for its Falcon 9 rockets.

Stimulating a new group of its routers into orbit has become a matter of routine for Elon Musk’s rocket company as it works on build a mega-constellation
with thousands of individual satellites in low earth orbit. But this mission puts a new feather in Musk’s cap.

The first stage of the Falcon 9 has completed its seventh flight and landing, which is another major rocket recycling milestone for the company. The booster has previously flown on four Starlink missions and a pair of larger telecommunications satellite launches.

SpaceX landed the booster on the droneship Of Course I Still Love You in the Atlantic shortly after launch and also had to attempt to grab the two halves of the nose cone, or fairing, with another pair of ships. The fairing halves were also recycled, with one half making its second flight and the other its third.

This mission – the company’s 23rd mission in 2020 – comes just days after SpaceX sent a new NASA and European Space Agency satellite into orbit.

Saturday morning another Falcon 9 took off from Vandenburg Air Base in California, carrying the new Michael Freilich NASA / European Space Agency Sentinel 6 satellite designed to monitor global sea level rise and improve weather forecasting.

Originally, Starlink’s launch was supposed to take place just 10 hours after takeoff from Sentinel 6, but was postponed for a few days due to technical and weather issues.

SpaceX pursues its first thousand Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit as it works to expand its public beta test, currently available to a limited number of customers in Canada and the northern United States.

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