SpaceX has set a new record for launches.
At 10:47 p.m. EDT (02:47 GMT on Sept. 4), the company launched 21 of its Starlink internet satellites into orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Elon Musk, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, said that it was SpaceX’s 62nd orbital mission of 2023, breaking the previous record for the most flights in a single year. In 2022, the previous mark was set.
As planned, the first stage of the Falcon 9 returned to Earth. It came down on the drone ship Just Read the Instructions, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 8.5 minutes after liftoff.
According to a SpaceX mission description, this particular booster had completed its tenth launch and landing.
In the meantime, 65 minutes after liftoff, the upper stage of the Falcon 9 continued to fly to launch the 21 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO).
SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission’s four astronauts, who had been on the International Space Station (ISS) since March, were brought back to Earth on the same day as the launch.
Endeavour, the Crew Dragon capsule from Crew 6, left the ISS on Sept. 3 just after 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT). At approximately 12:17 a.m. EDT (04:17 GMT), it successfully splashed down in the ocean off the coast of Florida. NASA has made that significant event available for viewing on YouTube.
