The Falcon 9 rocket may reach 50 launches on Tuesday
SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket less than a decade ago, in June 2010. Early next week, the California-based rocket company will go for its 50th launch of its workhorse booster. The launch attempt will come as soon as early next Tuesday, 12:33am ET, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
From article, (SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket less than a decade ago, in June 2010. Early next week, the California-based rocket company will go for its 50th launch of its workhorse booster.
The launch attempt will come as soon as early next Tuesday, 12:33am ET, from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX will attempt to launch the Hispasat 30W-6 communications satellite to geostationary transfer orbit. The mission has a two-hour launch window.
Whether SpaceX will attempt to land the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket is not clear. The satellite weighs slightly more than six metric tons, which is about half-a-ton heavier than any Falcon 9 payload bound for geostationary orbit that the company has tried to land before. Therefore the rocket will expend nearly all of its fuel to get into a proper geostationary transfer orbit—making any return to Earth hot and fast.
Assuming the Hispasat mission launches next week, SpaceX will have reached its 50th launch fairly quickly for an orbital rocket, taking seven years and nine months. By comparison, the Atlas V rocket took nine years and seven months, while the space shuttle took 11 years and five months.)
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