SpaceX launch sends up booster flying for record 19th time
SpaceX sent up another Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral early Saturday with a first-stage booster flying for a record 19th time.
The Falcon 9 rocket on the Starlink 6-32 mission with 23 Starlink satellites launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at 12:33 a.m.
This marked a record 19th flight for the first-stage booster having flown previously on Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-11, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and 13 Starlink missions. It made another recovery landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions downrange in the Atlantic.
It was the 255th booster recovery ever among Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets with SpaceX this week celebrating the eight-year anniversary of the first successful landing.
It marked a busy day for SpaceX which recovered a cargo Dragon spacecraft from the CRS-29 mission that left the International Space Station on Thursday, splashing down off the Florida coast after noon Friday with science on board that was headed to Kennedy Space Center.
This was the 70th Space Coast launch of the year with SpaceX’s next announced launch set for Dec. 28 from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A when it tries to send up a Falcon Heavy rocket on the USSF-52 mission for the Space Force.
