1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

SpaceX launches two missions in one day, setting new record

By

SpaceX has made two launches within one day using its Falcon 9 rockets, setting a new record for the shortest interval yet between launches. On Saturday, December 18, the company launched its Turksat 5B mission from Cape Canaveral, carrying a satellite into orbit late in the evening.

Turksat 5B Mission

SpaceX livestreamed the launch, which you can watch using the video above, and was successful in catching the rocket’s first stage using one of its droneships.

Recommended Videos

“On Saturday, December 18 at 10:58 p.m. EST, Falcon 9 launched the Turksat 5B mission to geostationary transfer orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida,” SpaceX wrote. “This was the third launch and landing of this booster, which previously supported launch of CRS-22 and Crew-3.”

SpaceX also shared clips of the launch on its Twitter account, including the liftoff, the catching of the rocket’s first stage on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, and the deployment of the Turksat 5B satellite.

Turksat 5B is a communications satellite to be operated by the Turksat company, which will be used for both military and commercial purposes. It was placed into geostationary orbit and is expected to be in use for at least the next 15 years.

This was in addition to another Starlink launch which SpaceX performed yesterday, December 18. That mission, which launched early in the morning from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, carried 52 new satellites to be added to the SpaceX Starlink constellation.

According to NASA Spaceflight, this short window between the two launches set a new record for SpaceX, with the shortest time yet between two Falcon 9 launches clocking in at 15 hours and 17 minutes. The company’s previous record had been 44 hours between Falcon 9 launches.

This isn’t all for SpaceX in the run-up to Christmas though. Next week, on Tuesday, December 21, the company will make one more Falcon 9 launch on a resupply mission to the International Space Station.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
Take a high-speed ride on SpaceX’s emergency escape chute

SpaceX has put a Crew Dragon on Pad 40 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the first time. This means that going forward, SpaceX will have two pads to choose from when sending astronauts to space.

Up to now, crews launching on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft lift off from Pad 39A at Kennedy, but having another launch site available gives NASA and SpaceX greater flexibility when planning missions by easing pressure on teams if scheduling issues and traffic conflicts arise.

Read more
SpaceX shares awesome rocket imagery from Starship flight

SpaceX’s third Starship test flight last Thursday was its best yet, far exceeding the first two missions, which took place last year and ended in huge fireballs just a few minutes in.

This time, the Starship -- comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft -- kept on flying, with both parts reaching their destination points before breaking up on descent.

Read more
Watch SpaceX’s Starship burn brightly as it hurtles toward Earth

SpaceX surprised a lot of people on Thursday morning when its mighty Starship rocket managed not to blow up seconds after liftoff.

The Starship -- comprising the first-stage Super Heavy booster and upper-stage Starship spacecraft -- enjoyed its most successful test flight yet following two short-lived missions in April and November last year.

Read more