Updated
Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jul 13
SpaceX Marks 600th Flight-Proven Falcon Launch With 29 Starlink Satellites
Updated
Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jul 13

SpaceX Marks 600th Flight-Proven Falcon Launch With 29 Starlink Satellites

3 articles · Updated · Spaceflight Now · Jul 13

Summary

  • SpaceX used booster B1080 for its 600th flight-proven Falcon mission, lifting off from Cape Canaveral at 5:10 a.m. EDT on the Starlink 10-45 launch.
  • The mission deployed 29 broadband satellites, pushing SpaceX’s low-Earth-orbit Starlink fleet past 10,800 spacecraft.
  • B1080 was flying for the 28th time and landed about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic.
  • That recovery was the vessel’s 161st and SpaceX’s 638th booster landing, extending the company’s rapid-reuse record across back-to-back Starlink missions.

Insights

Starlink faces an 'existential risk' from space debris. How close are we to a cascade event that wipes it out?
With China's reusable rockets now flying, is the new space race for control of low Earth orbit already over?
As thousands of satellites burn up, are we running an unstoppable geoengineering experiment in our own atmosphere?