:strip_exif()/i/2001549427.jpeg?f=fpa "SpaceX launches and lands Falcon 9 rocket stage for ninth time – IT Pro – News")
SpaceX has successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a bottom rocket stage that had flown eight times before. The company thus set a new record. The landing was also successful.
With the launch on Sunday, which took place a little after 11 a.m. Dutch time from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sixty Starlink internet satellites are successfully launched into space. Then, as planned, the first rocket stage went back to Earth, where it landed vertically about nine minutes later on the Atlantic Ocean-positioned drone ship called Of Course I Still Love You.
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SpaceX has launched and landed a Falcon 9 booster for the ninth time for the first time with this launch. It’s about the booster with serial number B1051. This rocket stage first flew in March 2019 and has been used on six of nine flights to put Starlink satellites into orbit. SpaceX has launched 1,325 Starlink satellites into space so far, of which about 1,200 are actually in orbit.
In theory, the Falcon 9 boosters can be reused dozens of times, so this record will probably be broken again in the long run. Hans Koenigmann, a former director at SpaceX, said last month that a tenth flight with a reused booster will take place shortly and that the reuse will continue until damage is actually visible.
Reusing these boosters makes a significant difference in costs. The bottom rocket stage can easily cost $ 30-35 million to make and makes up roughly 70 percent of the total cost of a Falcon 9 rocket.
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