SpaceX launched and landed a Falcon 9 rocket on record-tying 13th mission - Space.com

australiablogsnews.blogspot.com

SpaceX launched one of its Falcon 9 rockets for a record-tying 13th time on Sunday morning (July 17), and nailed the landing too.

A Falcon 9 carrying 53 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites lifted off at 10:20 a.m. EDT (1420 GMT) on Sunday from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

It was the 13th launch for this Falcon 9's first stage, tying a rocket reuse record that SpaceX set last month and matched just 10 days ago. The booster also helped loft SpaceX's Demo-2 crewed test flight to the International Space Station, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, the SXM-7 communications satellite and nine Starlink missions, SpaceX representatives said in a mission description (opens in new tab).

blast-off — A Falcon 9 rocket carrying Starlink satellites blasted off on July 17, 2022. (Image credit: SpaceX)

And this booster will probably fly yet again: A little less than nine minutes after liftoff, it came down for a vertical landing on the SpaceX droneship Just Read the Instructions, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.

The 53 Starlink satellites deployed from the Falcon 9's upper stage about seven minutes later, at 15.5 minutes after liftoff, according to a tweet (opens in new tab) from the company.

The fairing halves that protected the satellites on their ride to orbit made their third flight today, marking the 50th SpaceX mission to use reflown fairing halves, according to the company's mission broadcast. The fairings were also destined to be fished out of the water for use on a future mission.