In a record-breaking feat for rocket reusability, SpaceX successfully reused a Falcon 9 first-stage booster, tail number B1058, for the 19th time. The liftoff, which took place at 12:33 a.m. EST from Cape Canaveral’s pad 40, marked another milestone in the company’s mission to expand the Starlink broadband satellite constellation and showcased SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s commitment to the four R’s — “Rapidly reusable reliable rockets.”

Rocket booster B1058-19, initially flown in May 2020 during the NASA Demo-2 Crew Dragon mission, has now set a new record as the fleet leader with 19 missions completed. Its latest accomplishment involved delivering 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to orbit as part of the Starlink 6-32 mission. The first-stage booster, adorned with a faded NASA ‘worm’ logo from its inaugural crewed mission, had previously supported missions such as: NASA Crew Demo-2, South Korea’s ANASIS-11, NASA CRS-21, SpaceX’s Transporter-1, and Transporter-3 smallsat rideshare missions, and 14 other Starlink missions.

Following liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage executed a precise landing on the drone ship ‘Just Read the Instructions’ approximately 8 minutes into the flight. This successful landing marked SpaceX’s 255th overall for an orbital-class rocket and the 227th reuse of a recovered booster. Rapid reusability has enabled the company to launch the world’s most payload mass to orbit. It has also enabled SpaceX to deploy the Starlink constellation at a consistent rate, it is already the world’s largest satellite constellation.

Approximately 65 minutes after launch, the 23 Starlink V2 Mini satellites were deployed into orbit. These second-generation satellites feature advanced technologies, likely also the ability to beam service directly to smartphones. SpaceX recently recieved approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to perform initial testing of its satellite-to-cellular tech in collaboration with T-Mobile, as previously reported by Cosmic Chronicles.

Notably, SpaceX recently disclosed that its Starlink internet service has reached 2.3 million users across 70 countries. Since 2019, the company has launched a total of 5,627 satellites, with 5,248 currently in Low Earth Orbit and 5,211 operating normally as of December 20, according to data compiled by Astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

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