SpaceX rockets set new launch document in 2023
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft launches from NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 13, 2023.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Photos
Elon Musk’s SpaceX smashed its earlier annual document for orbital rocket launches, pulling off 96 profitable missions in 2023 at a blistering common launch tempo of each 4 days.
SpaceX this 12 months achieved 91 launches with its Falcon 9 rocket and one other 5 with the Falcon Heavy, topping its previous annual record of 61 orbital launches in 2022. For context, SpaceX launched Falcon 9 extra occasions this 12 months than in all the first decade after the rocket’s debut.
Alongside the best way this 12 months, SpaceX landed its 250th orbital rocket booster in addition to launched and landed a single rocket 19 occasions, persevering with to push the boundaries of reusing rockets. This week, SpaceX additionally set a brand new firm document for shortest time between orbital launches, at just below three hours, which represents the tightest time between Florida launches since NASA’s Gemini 11 mission in 1966.
What’s extra, SpaceX’s launch depend for the 12 months doesn’t embrace its pair of Starship test flights, which weren’t carrying business payloads certain for orbit.
Jon Edwards, SpaceX vp of Falcon launch autos, wrote in a social media publish that only a few years in the past, Musk recommended “a aim of 100 launches as a thought experiment.”
“Right here we’re. I am so extremely proud to work with the perfect workforce on earth, and so excited to see what we obtain subsequent 12 months,” Edwards wrote.
SpaceX officers have stated the corporate goals to launch as many as 144 Falcon missions in 2024, because it continues to deploy satellites for the Starlink system that drives a significant portion of its $180 billion valuation.
Do not miss these tales from CNBC PRO:
