The Falcon 9 is the undisputed workhorse of SpaceX. The rocket has now been launched 52 times in 52 weeks. This gives the space exploration company an average of one launch every week in the last 12 months.
The 52nd launch was another rideshare, with AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker satellite launching with 34 new v1.5 Starlink satellites. It is the largest rideshare payload for SpaceX.
The launch was also the 150th consecutive and successful for SpaceX. Another record is the number of reuse for the Falcon 9 booster, B1058, which stood at 14. The booster flew for the first time in May 2020.
The rocket took off on schedule, with B1058 landing safely less than ten minutes later on the A Shortfall Of Gravitas (ASOG) drone ship.
This launch was SpaceX’s most complicated ever. It first deployed the 1.5-ton BlueWalker satellite before putting SpaceX’s Starlink satellites in orbit.
SpaceX completed the 40th launch of the Falcon 9 in 2022 a week ago.
