SpaceX Attempts Back-to-Back Launches of Its Falcon 9 Rocket

Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch two Falcon 9 rockets on Friday, with the first taking off from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and the second from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first rocket will carry 52 satellites to join SpaceX’s internet mega-constellation known as Starlink, while the second will deliver the SES-18 and SES-19 telecommunications satellites to a geosynchronous transfer orbit. Both launches will be streamed live via SpaceX’s website. The reused first stage booster of the first rocket is expected to return and land on a SpaceX “drone ship” shortly after take-off, while the second rocket booster will be expended.
SpaceX has already launched eight Starlink missions this year and the new satellites will take the total number of Starlinks in orbit to 3,751. Falcon 9 can lift loads of over 22,000kg to low Earth orbit and about 8,000kg to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). While the reusable rocket has been reliable, the company is eager to get its Starship rocket operational. Capable of carrying up to 100 tonnes of cargo into space, Starship builds on the developments of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets but claims to surpass it with a fully reusable first and second stage. With costs significantly lower to launch using Starship, Musk hopes it will help “humanity return to the moon, travel to Mars and add a new chapter in human space exploration.”
Last year, SpaceX conducted 60 successful launches, and by 2023, Musk hopes to complete 100 launches in one year. However, the company has faced several setbacks, including a recent explosion that destroyed a Starship rocket. Nonetheless, SpaceX has shown tremendous technological advancements and the first all-civilian mission to space was led by SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule. The mission was led by billionaire Jared Isaacman, who funded the flight and became the third billionaire to soar into space in 2021.



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