- SpaceX successfully launched its flight-leading Falcon 9 booster, B1067, on a record-breaking 35th mission.
- The Starlink 10-35 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:13:50 a.m. EDT.
- The Falcon 9 rocket carried 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low Earth orbi
SpaceX has once again pushed the boundaries of rocket reusability, successfully launching its flight-leading Falcon 9 booster, B1067, on a record-breaking 35th mission. The Starlink 10-35 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 6:13:50 a.m. EDT (1013:50 UTC) on Monday.
The Falcon 9 rocket carried 29 Starlink broadband internet satellites to low Earth orbit, further expanding SpaceX's constellation of more than 10,500 operational spacecraft.
The mission establishes a new milestone for booster B1067, extending its lead as the most-flown Falcon 9 first stage and highlighting SpaceX's ongoing efforts to prove that its rockets can safely and reliably fly up to 40 times.
Launch weather conditions were largely favorable. The U.S. Space Force's 45th Weather Squadron forecast a 90 percent chance of acceptable weather at the opening of the launch window, ahead of the launch.
The conditions were expected to become less favourable as the morning progressed due to increasing cloud cover over Florida's Space Coast.
“High pressure at the surface and aloft and abundant dry air will keep quiet conditions across the Spaceport to end the weekend The pattern changes early in the week as the upper ridge breaks over the Florida Peninsula, with a passing upper-level disturbance bringing more upper-level moisture,” launch weather officers wrote.
The successful launch continues SpaceX's push toward maximizing Falcon 9 reusability, a capability unmatched in commercial spaceflight. Reusing boosters dozens of times has become a cornerstone of the company's strategy to lower launch costs and increase launch frequency.
As of June 7, seven Falcon 9 boosters had surpassed 25 flights:
B1071 — 33 flights
B1063 — 32 flights
B1069 — 31 flights
B1077 — 28 flights
B1078 — 28 flights
B1080 — 26 flights
B1067 — 34 flights prior to today's mission
In its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus, SpaceX noted that while Falcon 9 boosters have been engineered and demonstrated to support up to 40 missions, the company currently assigns them an accounting useful life of 25 flights.
“Although our Falcon 9 boosters have been engineered and demonstrated to support up to 40 flights, we have established a maximum accounting useful life of 25 flights as an estimate based on forecasted utilization,” SpaceX wrote in its prospectus, a document filed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
SpaceX said the estimate reflects its long-term transition toward Starship, which is expected to reduce Falcon 9 launch demand, as well as restrictions in some government contracts that limit the use of boosters with extensive flight histories.
The company added that useful life estimates are regularly reviewed based on engineering data, post-flight inspections, and more
“These useful life estimates are periodically reassessed based on engineering qualification data, post-flight inspections, recovery success rates, actual fleet performance, cost sensitivity analyses, and the long-range launch manifest,” it added.
