SpaceX Surpasses 100 Rocket Launches in 2024
Elon Musk said that SpaceX would reach the mark of 100 rocket launches in 12 months in 2023. Last year, the company failed to fulfill the billionaire’s whim, but this year it even exceeded his expectations.
On Tuesday morning, October 15, SpaceX launched its 100th rocket in 2024. The milestone mission was a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 Starlink satellites, which blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 2:10 a.m. local time. About eight minutes after launch, the Falcon 9 booster’s first stage returned safely to Earth, landing on the A Shortfall of Gravitas platform off the coast of Florida.
Just over two hours later, the company cemented its own record with another rocket launch from the opposite coast of the United States. At 4:21 a.m. local time that same day, Falcon 9 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, launching 20 more Starlink vehicles into orbit — the first stage also returned safely to Earth.
In total, the company has carried out 101 launches since the beginning of the year. Of these, 96 were Falcon 9, two-thirds of which were dedicated to the creation of the Starlink megaconstellation. The company also launched two Falcon Heavy missions and conducted test flights of Starship.