Sept. 3 (UPI) — SpaceX late Sunday launched a Falcon 9 rocket topped with a payload of 21 Starlink satellites into space, setting a record 62 orbital missions by the company in a calendar year.
The rocket launched at 10:47 p.m. EDT Sunday from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Weather was 95% favorable for the launch, SpaceX had tweeted less than an hour before liftoff.
The first-stage booster was on its 10th flight, and returned to Earth where it landed upon SpaceX’s Just Read the Instructions droneship, which was waiting in the Atlantic Ocean.
The launch is SpaceX’s 62nd orbital mission of the year, which breaks the record of 61 set by the Elon Musk-owned company in 2022.
“If tomorrow’s mission goes well, we will exceed last year’s flight count,” Musk tweeted Saturday. “SpaceX has delivered ~80% of all Earth payload mass to orbit in 2023.
“Aiming for 10 Falcon flights in a month by end of this year, then 12 per month next year.”
It also comes after SpaceX late last month launched its 5,000th Starlink satellite into low-Earth orbit.
