SpaceX launched a Italian remote sensing satellite on Tuesday from Florida. On Wednesday, SpaceX launched another Falcon 9 rocket out of California carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy spacecraft.
Company plans to launch another Florida launch on Thursday to place 49 additional Starlink internet satellites in orbit.
This rapid launch pace of six orbit-class missions in just 28 days follows a record 31 Falcon 9 flight in 2021, with more than 50 anticipated this year. The cadence was possible because the core stages were recovered, repaired, and relaunched.
The Falcon 9 flew Wednesday using a new booster. It landed on Landing Zone 4 at SpaceX’s Vandenberg Space Force Base launchpad. The NRO intends to fly the booster on a downstream mission. They tweeted “this gives the core the ability not just to launch one but two NRO payloads to #space!”
At 3:27 p.m. ET, the Falcon 9’s first stage engines ignited and the rocket accelerated away from pad 4, at the Space Force base north of Los Angeles.
The first stage was able to climb out of the lower atmosphere using a southerly trajectory. It fell off as planned approximately two minutes and twenty seconds after liftoff. SpaceX’s second stage, carrying the NROL87 satellite, continued towards space. However, as is customary with classified missions, it ended its ascent commentary at this point.
The company also provided stunning video of the return of the first stage to launch site. Three engines were fired to reverse the course of the rocket and to slow down in order to descend into the thicker atmosphere.
The final single-engine firing brought the stage down to touchdown on four landing legs. SpaceX celebrated its 105th successful booster rescue, with 22 in Florida, 4 in California and 79 at sea.
Next up: Launch of 49 Starlink Internet Satellites Thursday, from historic pad 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX has launched 2,042 Starlinks so far as it builds a global constellation of commercial broadband relay stations.
