South Korea's 1st military satellite launched
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Jul 23, 2020
SpaceX's B1058, the booster which launched the satellite-carrying Falcon 9, was used just 51 days ago to launch two astronauts to the International Space Station, with the previous record being 62 days between boosters being reused.
The company has today ticked off this significant milestone, after its Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched a satellite into orbit for South Korea. SpaceX has been attempting to recover the fairing using two ships equipped with special nets created to catch them as they fall, but this is the first time that the company has managed to actually catch both, rather than just one.
The company had been trying to catch both halves of these fairings for a long time, but always failed, managing to catch just one half at multiple occasions. The spacecraft is the first dedicated South Korean military communications satellite.
This also breaks the overall turnaround record for an orbital rocket, previously held by Space Shuttle Atlantis.
Falcon 9 B1058 is officially the world's most quickly reusable rocket after a successful second launch and landing.
In the long run, SpaceX hopes to lessen the turnaround time involving launches from months to days, but as it is continue to mastering from the system, added care is getting taken among launches. Born and raised outside Edwards Air Force Base and NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center, he moved to Florida's Space Coast and began photographing and reporting spaceflight professionally full time in 2018.
This booster 1058.2 is the Falcon 9, supposedly with the NASA worm emblem on the other facet, but that side of the rocket was going through away from in which the media set up cameras.
A NASA spokesman said that while mission planners are closely watching weather forecasts, the date for the two astronauts return trip may be delayed.
SpaceX has flown a single rocket booster up to five times, and Musk has said the latest version of the Falcon 9 first-stage can fly up to 10 times with minimal repairs needed between launches. The webcast underneath should really start out about 15 minutes ahead of the start window opens. Some 29 minutes after the launch, the payload was released from the launch vehicle. SpaceX's next two launches are expected to occur within the next two weeks, giving the company plenty of opportunities to (hopefully) replicate today's historic fairing recovery success. Also, Elon Musk confirmed on Twitter that both fairing halves of the Falcon 9 booster were recovered by the company's droneships.
