Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX) set a new record on September 26. It launched the Falcon 9 rocket with the heaviest payload in history.
Currently, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is the only medium-lift rocket capable of landing and being reused. It has become a real workhorse for the company for various missions, such as Starlink satellite launches, astronaut launches, cargo missions to the International Space Station and launches for other companies.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle has previously been used eight times. The new launch took place at 12:32 Moscow time from the 40th launch complex of the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral in Florida. The rocket lifted 56 Starlink satellites with a total weight of 17.4 tons into low Earth orbit.
The first stage separated about 2 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff and began a controlled descent back to Earth, and eight minutes and 40 seconds after liftoff made an unerring landing on a platform off the coast of Florida.
Two halves of the fairing broke away from the nose fairing of the upper stage shortly after the separation of the first stage and fell into the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX said in a webcast that it intends to recover the fairing for future reuse.
About 55 minutes after launch, SpaceX confirmed that the satellites were successfully launched into orbit. In this way, SpaceX has already launched about 3,800 Starlink satellites into orbit.
