SpaceX breaks NASA’s Shuttle launch record
- May 10, 2024
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Elon Musk’s company SpaceX reached the milestone with 83 launches of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from Launch Complex 39A from the Cape Canaveral Space Station, surpassing
Elon Musk’s company SpaceX reached the milestone with 83 launches of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets from Launch Complex 39A from the Cape Canaveral Space Station, surpassing NASA’s record for the number of Shuttle launches and showing the future of the private aviation industry.
Complex 39A has a rich history – Saturn-5 rockets with manned missions to the moon were launched from here as part of the Apollo program. For the next 30 years, all space shuttle launches were carried out from this legendary cosmodrome. Currently, the complex is rented by the SpaceX company for commercial launches of its rockets.
Since signing a 20-year lease in 2014, SpaceX has successfully launched 83 Falcon rockets from this launch complex. That’s one more launch than the total number of launches in the Shuttle’s 30 years of operations. Such impressive results were made possible thanks to the reusable architecture of the Falcon rockets; This allows to significantly reduce the cost of launching payloads into orbit.
Falcon 9 launch will be sent @Starlink satellites to orbit pic.twitter.com/4VpvmDpzVb
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 8, 2024
In addition to the record number of launches, the company has achieved other successes. He mastered the landing and reuse of the first stages of rockets, which was previously thought impossible, especially in the commercial sector. Also, as you know, SpaceX has deployed the Starlink satellite constellation, which currently has about 6,000 devices; This is more than all other operators combined.
Despite the impressive successes with the Falcon, the company remains focused on the development of a new heavy Starship rocket, which should be fully reusable and cheaper to operate. Although Starship has not yet made any orbital flights, SpaceX plans to use it for future manned missions to the Moon and Mars.
Thus, SpaceX surpassed NASA’s record for the number of launches from Cape Canaveral, demonstrating the competitiveness of private space companies compared to publicly traded companies and their increasing role in space exploration.
Source: Port Altele
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