SpaceX has broken its rocket-reuse record yet again.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 28 of the company's Starlink internet satellites launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday (May 13) at 1:02 a.m. EDT (0502 GMT).
It was the 28th liftoff for this particular rocket's first stage, breaking the reuse mark the same booster set on April 13. On that 27th launch, the rocket lofted 27 Starlink craft — a bit of synchronicity that doesn't seem coincidental given the number of payloads on Flight 28.
CRS-22 | Crew-3 | Turksat 5B | Crew-4 | CRS-25 | Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13G | O3B mPOWER | PSN SATRIA | Telkomsat Marah Putih 2 | Galileo L13 | Koreasat-6A | 17 Starlink missions
The Falcon 9 booster, designated B1067, returned to Earth for its 28th landing about eight minutes after liftoff on Tuesday, touching down on the SpaceX drone ship "Just Read the Instructions," which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
Meanwhile, the rocket's upper stage continued carrying the 28 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit, where they're scheduled to be deployed 65 minutes after liftoff.
Tuesday's record-breaking launch was the second SpaceX mission in the span of a few hours: Another Falcon 9 lofted 26 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday night (May 12).
Starlink is the largest satellite constellation ever assembled — and it's growing all the time, as the back-to-back spaceflight action shows. There are currently 7,400 operational Starlink spacecraft circling Earth, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.
