Six rockets lifted off from launchpads across the globe in under 18 hours between Monday and Tuesday. The tightly packed schedule saw successful missions by major players such as SpaceX, Amazon, and international space agencies, with five of them focused on deploying satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO).
The six launches broke the previous record of four within 24 hours. This high tempo was made possible by better logistical coordination, quick rocket turnaround (especially from SpaceX), and scalable satellite manufacturing lines.
The launch spree began on April 28 at 9:29 am IST, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carrying 27 Starlink satellites, reported Space.com.
Thirty-two minutes later, at 10:01 am IST, another mission lifted off - this time from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station - where a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket deployed the first 27 satellites of Amazon's Project Kuiper, a new broadband mega constellation aiming to rival Starlink.
At 1:31 pm IST, another Falcon 9 launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, located next to the Cape Canaveral facility, carrying 23 more Starlink satellites into orbit.
These three launches, along with one from China, marked four liftoffs from four different sites within just 6.5 hours, all targeting LEO broadband infrastructure. While SpaceX's Starlink is already operational with thousands of satellites in orbit, Amazon's Project Kuiper and China's Guowang network are still in early deployment stages.
The next morning (April 29) at 2:45 pm IST, an Arianespace Vega-C rocket launched from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the European Space Agency's Biomass satellite - a mission focused on forest monitoring, not internet. It was a significant launch for Vega-C - its fourth flight and a step toward recovering from a failure in 2022.
Last, at 7:07 pm IST, Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket launched from Vandenberg with a Lockheed Martin satellite technology demonstrator. The mission faced a setback due to a mishap during stage separation, which lost the payload.
Industry experts say this pace is here to stay. With more companies building satellite internet networks and newer scientific missions being planned, launch schedules are set to remain crowded. Reusable rockets and modular satellite designs are bringing costs down and speeding up deployment.
