On April 12 at 21:40 local time, SpaceX launched another set of Starlink communications satellites into space. After 8.5 minutes, the first stage of the rocket landed softly on a barge in the ocean, and a new record was set on the return stage; this was the first stage in history to make its 20th return flight. The mission was dedicated to the 43rd anniversary of the first flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle (space shuttle), highlighting the order.

for company SpaceX The rocket’s launch on April 12 was the 38th in 2024. Almost all of them were aimed at increasing and maintaining the Starlink constellation of Internet communications satellites. Currently, the number of these devices in low Earth orbit consists of approximately 5,650 active satellites. An aggressive network deployment program requires intensive launches, enabling SpaceX to set new records in terms of the number of launches and returns of individual stages. Thus, an 18th degree return record was broken at the beginning of last autumn, and a 19th degree in December 2023 and in February and March 2024.

The launch of the Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida marked the first launch of the Shuttle in 1981. During the mission, the Falcon 9 booster launched 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The rocket was placed into orbit approximately 65.5 minutes after launch. On the one hand, such missions fuel SpaceX’s internal potential and remain a corporate thing. But on the other hand, for real space travel, at least within the boundaries of the solar system, the most frequent launches are required at the lowest possible cost. Elon Musk and his company SpaceX solve this task in their own way. And the key word here is decision.