400 rocket landings! SpaceX notches reuse milestone – Space.com
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SpaceX made some history during Tuesday’s (Jan. 21) Starlink satellite launch from California.On that mission, a Falcon 9 rocket sent 27 Starlink broadband craft to low Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base. About eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth as planned, acing its landing on a drone ship at sea.SpaceX has made such pinpoint touchdowns commonplace, pulling them off hundreds of times to date. In fact, Tuesday’s success brought the number of its orbital-class rocket landings to an even 400, the company announced via X.The vast majority of those touchdowns have been achieved by the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s workhorse rocket. The company re-flies Falcon 9 boosters repeatedly. One first stage, for instance, has a record 25 launches and landings under its belt.The rest of the 400 landings have come courtesy of SpaceX’s powerful Falcon Heavy, whose first stage consists of three modified Falcon 9 boosters. (The Heavy can notch three landings on a single mission, but it has flown just 11 times to date.)Related: 8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflight— SpaceX: Facts about Elon Musk’s private spaceflight company— Starlink satellites: Facts, tracking and impact on astronomy— SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches on record-breaking 24th flight (video)Not included in the tally are landings by the next-gen Starship megarocket, a fully reusable vehicle that SpaceX is developing to help humanity settle the moon and Mars, among other tasks. (The upper stages of both the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy are expendable.)Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!The 403.5-foot-tall (123 meters) Starship has launched on surborbital test flights seven times to date, most recently on Jan. 16. That mission featured a dramatic catch of Starship’s Super Heavy first stage by the “chopstick” arms of its launch tower at Starbase, in South Texas. It was the second time SpaceX had pulled off the feat; it also snagged Super Heavy on Starship Flight 5 this past November.Starship’s upper stage, however, exploded about 8.5 minutes into Flight 7, apparently due to a propellant leak.Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, “Out There,” was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.Chinese astronauts install debris shields on Tiangong space station during 8.5-hour spacewalk (video)Europe plans to launch advanced Mars lander in 2035A young star may soon disappear: Inside the great dimming of T TauriSpace is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.©
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