ORLANDO, Fla. — SpaceX managed a record 31 launches in 2021, but its more-than-weekly pace in 2022 including a launch Sunday morning let it match that record less than seven months into the year.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 53 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:20 a.m. Eastern Time.
This is the third time SpaceX used a first-stage booster for a record 13th time, with this booster having previously flown on Crew Dragon’s first demonstration mission, the RADARSAT Constellation Mission, SXM-7 and nine Starlink missions. It’s notably also been used at all three of SpaceX’s launch facilities, having also taken off from Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Space Force Base on missions responsible for bringing nearly 600 payloads to space.
