Yesterday, a Falcon 9 rocket under SpaceX was successfully launched from Florida, sending a Turkish communications satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The first stage booster of the rocket successfully returned to Earth and landed carefully on an unmanned ship named ‘Just Read the Instructions’. It is worth mentioning that this is the 50th launch of SpaceX using the recovered Falcon 9 first-stage booster.
At present, it was only 5 years and a few days before SpaceX successfully recovered the first-level booster for the first time, and it was less than 4 years before the first usage of the recovered first-level booster was launched. SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch mission may take place on January 14.
This mission is SpaceX’s first rocket launch this year, and the 3.4-ton satellite was successfully deployed to the geosynchronous transfer orbit.
The rocket lifted off from Launch Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket used the first-stage booster and payload fairing recovered earlier. This is the fourth launch of the first-level booster.
Previously, it had launched a GPS satellite in June 2020 and completed two Starlink satellite launch missions. Each half of the payload fairing used in this launch mission has previously performed a mission.
This launch proves that SpaceX is continuously using the recovered first-stage booster for commercial launch missions. In December of last year, the company used a six-handed rocket to put the communications satellite of the satellite broadcaster, Sirius, into orbit.
In an interview, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell (Gwynne Shotwell) stated that customers are very confident inflight-proven’ rockets. Normally, SpaceX will decide on its own for each mission. Which rocket.
Shotwell told customers: ‘You are buying launch services, and we will provide you with the best delivery vehicles within the time frame you need to launch.’ ‘We basically control most of it in our own hands.’
It is unclear how many Falcon 9 rockets SpaceX will launch in 2021, but this number will undoubtedly be very high. In 2020, SpaceX successfully carried out 26 rocket launch missions, a record high. At the same time, the company also plans to establish its own Starlink satellite network to provide more satellite Internet services.
(Via)
