SpaceX achieved a crucial milestone today after it launched an Israeli communications satellite from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida earlier today. The successful launch marked the 500th mission of the firm's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which has become the backbone of global launch capacity and enabled SpaceX to drastically reduce costs by becoming the first and only firm in the world to reuse an orbital-class rocket booster.
SpaceX Celebrates 500th Falcon 9 Flight By Launching 13th Flight Of The Same Booster
The Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 1:04 am local time today to launch the Commercial GTO mission. The mission sent the Dror 1 geostationary satellite developed by the Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI), and according to the Jerusalem Post, 15 IAI scientists were present at the Cape for the launch.
The Dror 1 is designed to orbit the Earth once every 30 hours and is estimates to reach an altitude of at least 36,000 as part of its mission which should last for 15 years. SpavceX's Falcon 9 which launched the satellite flew for the 13th time and marked a key milestone for the firm in the form of its 500th mission. The booster has previously flown NASA's Crew-8, the Polaris Dawn, seven Starlink missions and a NASA cargo mission, among other flights.
Falcon 9's inaugural flight was on June 4th, 2010 from the same pad. liftoff at 1:04 am local Eastern time. Commercial GTO mission. Falcon 9 Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 13th flight, 7 Starlink mission, NASA Crew-8, Polaris Dawn CRS-31. JRTS Atlantic Ocean.
The Falcon 9 is the world's most active launch vehicle and the only orbital class rocket capable of reuse through propulsive landing. Most of the rocket's missions are for SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation, as it has enabled the firm to build the world's largest satellite constellation with more than 7,000 satellites.
The rocket flew for the first time on June 4th, 2010 from the Cape. Its payload was a Dragon weight simulator, which allowed SpaceX to certify the rocket for NASA's crew and cargo missions to the ISS. Back then, SpaceX was not testing propulsive landing technology. Instead, the booster flew with a parachute on board, which could not be deployed as the vehicle broke apart in the air after successfully sending its payload to space.
After its inaugural flight, the Falcon 9 would fly only once in 2010 for another NASA demonstration mission in December. Between 2010 and 2013, SpaceX flew the rocket seven times. Four years later, in 2014, the rocket successfully softly splashed down into the ocean and made history by being the first launch vehicle to achieve a propulsive landing.
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