On Saturday local time, the Falcon 9 rocket launched by SpaceX launched 23 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit with the help of a first-stage booster (B1058 core first stage) that was reused 19 times. The company announced Monday that the booster successfully completed its final flight and will now be retired.
The 19th re-flight is a milestone for SpaceX, which is working on recycling rockets to reduce the cost of space travel.
The booster has previously launched CrewDemo-2, ANASIS-11, CRS-21, Transporter-1, Transporter-3 and several Starlink missions. SpaceX’s official account posted on the
In the last launch on Saturday, although the booster landed successfully, it overturned on the unmanned ship while being transported back to the port. SpaceX attributed this to strong winds and waves.
However, newer Falcon boosters are not at risk of similar accidents because they have upgraded landing legs. SpaceX said in a post that these upgraded landing legs can self-adjust to alleviate such problems.