SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches its 13th Flight! One of Three Flights in 36 Hours?

Teejay Boris, Tech Times 17 June 2022, 08:06 pm

SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched its 13th flight, bringing several Starlink internet satellites to orbit.

The 13th flight of the Falcon 9 is one out of the trio of flights that SpaceX plans to carry out in merely 36 hours or three consecutive days.

(Photo : ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
A mock up of the Crew Dragon spacecraft is displayed during a media tour of SpaceX headquarters and rocket factory on August 13, 2018 in Hawthorne, California.

SpaceX Falcon 9 13th Launch

The space exploration firm of Elon Musk, SpaceX, is on track on its Falcon 9 trio flights with the first one successfully launching.

One of the Falcon 9 rockets of SpaceX has already launched to space more than a dozen or 13 times, thanks to its successful flight on June 17, according to the latest report by Space.com.

The latest SpaceX lift-off, which was held straight from the Kennedy Space Center of the National Aeronautic Space Administration or NASA in Florida, marks a reuse record for the Musk-owned giant firm.

The Falcon 9 launched from the NASA facility a few minutes past noon, or to be more exact at 12:09 pm.

But what is this flight all about in the first place?

Starlink Satellites

Space.com notes that the lift-off carries a couple of SpaceX Starlink internet satellites like most Falcon 9 launches.

It is part of the never-ending expansion of the wireless internet constellation of Starlink, which seeks to provide low-latency connection even in far-flung and rural locations.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches its 13th Flight — One of Three Flights

(Photo : Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the manned Crew Dragon spacecraft attached takes off from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on May 30, 2020 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Thanks to the multiple flights of Falcon 9, the Starlink satellites in orbit have already ballooned to 2,700. And as these launches continue, we are about to see more of them in the coming months and years. After all, Starlink is looking into a constellation of a whopping 30,000 satellites in orbit.

But the Falcon 9 is not all about bringing Starlink satellites to orbit; it previously ushered several "rideshare" missions in collaboration with other firms.

The spacecraft also works hand in hand with no less than NASA for cargo deliveries and crewed missions.

SpaceX Trio Flights

However, as mentioned, the Falcon 9 on June 17 is merely one out of three in the next 36 hours. It sure is somewhat a busy three days for the folks at SpaceX.

As per a news story by Teslarati, SpaceX still has two Falcon 9 launches after its successful Starlink mission today. The first flight notably kicks off the trio flights as it hits its 13th lift-off today.

The next one launches the SARah-1 radar satellites of Germany. Unlike the first flight, the second rocket launch is from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on June 18.

The third Falcon 9 flight contains a Globalstar-2 communications satellite and a few military counterparts. It launches from the second East Coast pad.

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Written by Teejay Boris