SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket made another launch, in which a new batch of 54 Starlink satellites were sent into orbit. This is a record sixteenth launch for Falcon 9’s first stage (serial number B1060) – only one stage in the series has survived multiple relaunches before. However, this is not the only notable task.

As reported by Space.com, this is the final delivery of Starlink V1.5 satellites into orbit. The company, which has already sent Starlink V2 Mini satellites into space, plans to deploy next-generation models with increased bandwidth in the future.

The rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral on July 16 at 06:50 Moscow time (July 15 at 23:50 EDT) – the previous day it was reported that the previous launch attempt should have been delayed 40 seconds before launch. According to the company itself, such measures can be taken if something unusual appears during flight preparation. Later it turned out that the launch was canceled due to the high level of liquid oxygen in one of the nine engines of the first stage.

The stage returned to Earth, and A Shortfall of Gravitas made a soft landing on the drone carrier 8.5 minutes after launch. Prior to this, it had already completed 15 takeoffs and landings and could be the record holder in this regard, but on June 10, another Falcon 9 first stage with serial number B1058 has already completed its sixteenth flight.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage was not intended to be reused – it continued its flight as usual, placing the satellites in low Earth orbit 66 minutes after takeoff.

The last few days have been pretty busy for the aviation industry. For example, China has announced that it has launched the world’s first methane-powered rocket, and India has sent its own rocket to the moon with the Pragyan rover on board, the country’s first soft landing on the moon should take place next month. Finally, at 02:30 Moscow time tomorrow, Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is scheduled to launch from an area in New Zealand. “Baby, come back!” (Baby Come Back) The first return to Earth of the first stage of the Electron rocket is planned. Source