Elon Musk can’t get enough of records. Since the day it was founded, SpaceX has become indispensable for space missions. It successfully launched hundreds of Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth into orbit. SpaceX broke the reusability record with its Falcon 9 rocket on Friday, November 3. Here are the details…

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched on its record-breaking 18th mission!

SpaceX broke another unprecedented record. A Falcon 9 rocket managed to deliver 23 of SpaceX’s Starlink internet satellites to their place in orbit. As a result of this task, he broke his own record. The launch took place at 20:37 from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. According to the SpaceX mission description  this was the unprecedented 18th mission for the Falcon 9 first stage.

Of course, this is not the first record of this rocket. Previously, this rocket carried NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to space for its first launch on May 30, 2020. Thus, he etched his name into the history books by achieving SpaceX’s first mission to send humans into orbit.

Of course, time will tell whether the Falcon 9 rocket, serial number B1058, will remain active for 20 flights. Now the mission-to-mission tempo of this rocket will begin to normalize somewhat. In this case, it is not unreasonable to assume that this rocket can reach 20 flights by early next spring.

Of course, after all these flights, the body of the rocket was also affected. During their flight into space and back, the white paint darkened to a charcoal color. Soot from the rocket’s exhaust slowly accumulated in the 15-story-tall cylindrical booster. The red NASA worm logo is now barely visible.

SpaceX and its billionaire founder and CEO Elon Musk have long prioritized the reusability of spaceflight hardware. Musk sees this as a major breakthrough that will enable the settlement of Mars and other ambitious exploration achievements.