SpaceX launches twice in one day
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https://www.space.com/spacex-falcon-9-rocket-turksat-5b-launch-success
SpaceX launched its second rocket in less than 24 hours on Saturday night (Dec. 18), delivering a Turkish communications satellite into orbit before capping off the successful mission with a landing at sea.
A 230-foot-tall (70 meters) Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:58 p.m. EST (0358 GMT on Dec. 19), at the beginning of a planned 90-minute window, carrying the Turksat 5B satellite into space.
Approximately nine minutes later, the rocket's first stage returned to Earth, touching down on the deck of SpaceX's newest drone ship, "A Shortfall of Gravitas." The ship is one of three massive floating landing pads that the California-based aerospace company uses to recover its rockets. The other two — named "Of Course I Still Love You" and "Just Read the Instructions" — are carrying out missions of their own, marking the first time ever that all three drone ships are deployed at the same time.
I love the names of the drone ships - a nod to Iain Banks "Culture" books.
Other names used by Banks:
Frank Exchange Of Views
Zero Gravitas
Falling Outside The Normal Moral Constraints
Me, I'm Counting
No More Mr Nice Guy
Liveware Problem
Yes, I Am Carrying A Big Stick
Sleeper Service
Clear Air Turbulence
So Much For Subtlety
Shoot Them Later
I Thought He Was With You
Demented But DeterminedAnd my favorite name from The Expanse: "The Weeping Somnambulist."
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They just landed their 100th rocket and had their 31st launch of the year.
Wow.
"It's been a record-breaking year for SpaceX," Sarah Walker, Dragon mission manager for SpaceX said during a prelaunch news briefing on Dec. 20. "This is our 31st and final launch for 2021, putting us a step above the 26 launches we completed last year."
It also marks a major recovery milestone as the 100th successful recovery of a first-stage booster for the company. SpaceX began recovering rockets in 2015, with the milestone landing occurring on the anniversary of the very first recovery.
SpaceX relies on a fleet of reusable rockets in order to keep up such a high launch cadence. This means that instead of using a brand-new rocket each time, the company can refly its recovered boosters many times over.
Of the 31 launches, only two flew on brand new rockets, the rest were on one of SpaceX's flight-proven boosters. That's thanks to a set of upgrades the Falcon 9 received in 2018, as well as a fleet of drone ships to catch the returning boosters.
"Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08
The saying, "Lite is just one damn thing after another," is a gross understatement. The damn things overlap.
