SpaceX pulled off a doubleheader in a single day on Friday (Nov. 14), launching two rockets lower than 4 hours other than Florida’s House Coast.
The motion began Friday at 10:08 p.m. EST (0308 GMT on Saturday, Nov. 15), when a Falcon 9 rocket topped with 29 of SpaceX’s Starlink web satellites lifted off from historic Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy House Heart (KSC) in Florida.
Then, at 1:44 a.m. EST (0644 GMT) on Saturday, one other Falcon 9 launched 29 Starlinks from Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station, which is subsequent door to KSC.
That rocket’s first stage aced its landing, which occurred in the Atlantic on the drone ship “Just Read the Instructions.” If all goes to plan, the 29 Starlink spacecraft will be deployed into LEO about 65 minutes after liftoff.
The two launches were the 145th and 146th Falcon 9 missions of the year for SpaceX.
More than 100 of these flights have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation, by far the largest satellite network ever assembled. There are currently more than 8,900 operational Starlink satellites in LEO, and the quantity is rising on a regular basis.
Three hours and 36 minutes between launches is kind of fast, but it surely’s not a document; on Aug. 31, 2024, SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 Starlink missions simply 65 minutes aside. One flew from Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station, and the opposite lifted off from Vandenberg House Pressure Base in California.
