SpaceX has completed its rocket launches for the first half of 2023, prompting a review of their accomplishments thus far. Additionally, it begs the question of whether they are on track to achieve their goal of 100 missions this year.
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After Monday’s doubleheader of launches, SpaceX shared a graphic showing the company’s launches since the first Falcon 1 in 2008. The graphic gives us a great way to visualize how far the company has come.
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Space Launch Delta 30, the unit tasked with operating the Western Range, has granted a lease to the historic Space Launch Complex 6 out at Vandenberg Space Force Base to SpaceX. This brings SpaceX’s total launch sites to five, with SLC-6 being the company’s second West Coast pad.
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SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon Heavy from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 28, 2022, at 7:29 p.m. EDT. This launch will carry the ViaSat-3 Americas communication satellite alongside Astranis Arcturus telecommunications satellite and the G-Space 1 CubeSat.
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Seven years ago today marked the first time SpaceX landed a Falcon 9 first stage on a floating ocean platform. Explosions and mishaps led up to the shining moment of success when this difficult and new feat was finally achieved. Seven years later, SpaceX has completed 144 landings of a Falcon booster on a drone ship.
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Sunday afternoon, this time without any fog, SpaceX launched USSF-67, another Falcon Heavy rocket out of LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. Starting a year that could bring us four more super heavy lift launches from the company.
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2022 was another record-breaking year for SpaceX, launching 60 Falcon 9s and one Falcon Heavy, the first since 2019. That’s an average of over one launch per week and double what SpaceX could do in 2021.
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Three years after its last flight, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy has returned to flight on this cloudy Florida morning. The primary payload of this launch is the classified USSF-44 satellite, with two other satellites co-manifested. The launch occurred on November 1 at 9:41 a.m. Eastern Time, successfully delivering the satellites to their targeted geosynchronous orbit.
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Last night SpaceX launched its 39th Falcon 9 of 2022 from Vandenberg Space Force Base to deploy another 46 Starlink satellites. The company has already shattered records for the past few years, but it wants to push harder, hoping for 100 launches in 2023 per its CEO, Elon Musk.
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NASA planned to launch a mission this year to explore a unique asteroid called Psyche. Unfortunately the team behind the Psyche mission ran out of time to properly test the spacecraft in time to make this year’s launch window.
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The annual Sun ‘n Fun Aerospace Expo in Lakeland, Florida, concluded yesterday. On Saturday evening, drones and fireworks lit up the sky, and during the performance, those drones took on a familiar form – a Falcon Heavy.
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Elon Musk founded SpaceX on March 14, 2002, paving the way for two remarkable decades transforming the aerospace industry in ways never thought possible.
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A SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster, B1023, arrived at the new exhibit building, Gateway, for permanent display. This booster previously launched the Thaicom 8 satellite and then was converted to a Falcon Heavy side booster for the demo flight.
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This week Inspiration4 launched into orbit and returned to Earth, SpaceX launched polar Starlink satellites from the West Cost, and a Falcon Heavy side booster will be put on display.
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In SpaceX’s most recent Falcon user’s guide, they released more detailed information about the long-awaited extended payload fairings was released; and it seems that these larger fairing halves will not be recovered.
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This week, the focus has been on Blue Origin. On Tuesday, they completed the first crewed flight of New Shepard, flying the oldest and youngest person to ever visit space.
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SpaceX has stood out from other rocket companies in their determination to reuse their Falcon 9 boosters as much as possible. Below are some FAQs of booster reuse.
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SpaceX launched the Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission in early June 25th, 2019. STP-2 was launched on the third flight of Falcon Heavy, reusing the side boosters from the Arabsat-6A launch earlier that year.
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While the Falcon 9 continues to smash launch cadence records with already 9 flights this year, its bigger sibling the Falcon Heavy still hasn’t been seen since 2019. SpaceX plans to launch 1 maybe even 2 this year if schedules can hold, the first of which is getting closer to being ready for flight.
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A key part of NASA’s Artemis program is Gateway, a lunar outpost 1/6 the size of its cousin the International Space Station. It will be used as the orbital research lab for Earth-faring astronauts destined to explore the lunar surface and possibly as a rest stop for those heading to Mars. The first two modules are planned to launch in 2024 on top of the party pleaser Falcon Heavy rocket.
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