Before the year is out, SpaceX will have launched 138 rockets in 2024, the vast majority out of the busiest spaceport in the world, Cape Canaveral. With the need to fit more Starlink missions into its manifest, it turned to the quiet spaceport of Vandenberg, where it launched 46 Falcon 9s, a new record.
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After Thursday’s green light from the FAA to resume launches, SpaceX took no time to try to catch up on the last few week’s lack of Starlink missions. Using all three of its Falcon 9 launch sites, the company launched a total of 67 Starlink satellites into orbit.
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SpaceX plans to launch about 50 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2024 with a chance of 100 launches in the year 2025. This comes to a spaceport that has historically seem launches in the single digits. Now, it could soon see a launch for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in the next few years.
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Over the weekend, SpaceX launched three Falcon 9 rockets from all three of its launch pads. The missions were all commercially purchased wither by NASA, SES, or in part of a rideshare program. Two out of the three flights featured RTLS landings at LZ-1 and 4, a rare occurrence.
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SpaceX is set to launch a Falcon 9 from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on June 18, 2022, at 10:19 a.m. EDT. This launch will carry the SARah-1 Earth observation satellite to a Polar Orbit.
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SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on April 17, 2022, at 9:13 a.m. EDT. This launch will carry a spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.
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