Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX launched 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Florida on Wednesday aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, marking its 100th Falcon flight of the year.
What Happened: “Deployment of 23 Starlink satellites confirmed, completing our 100th successful Falcon flight of the year!” SpaceX announced on social media platform X on Wednesday.
SpaceX completed 67 missions using its Falcon launch vehicles as of the end of the second quarter, with its Falcon 9 workhorse alone accounting for 66 launches and Starlink missions accounting for a major chunk of it. The company is looking to launch 144 times through the end of the year, averaging twelve times per month.
Why It Matters: For the entirety of 2023, SpaceX only completed 96 launches, not including two test flights of the company's Starship launch vehicle. The company has already exceeded its launch numbers for the past year but is yet to teach its own targets for 2024.
On Thursday, SpaceX Falcon 9 launched the NROL-167 mission to space from California, taking its total number of launches to 101 as of date.
The company is currently also undertaking testing and development of its ambitious Starship launch vehicle. The company has conducted five test flights to date, starting from April 2023.
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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
