A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with the Psyche spacecraft launches from NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Oct. 13, 2023.
Chandan Khanna | AFP | Getty Photographs
Elon Musk’s SpaceX smashed its earlier annual file for orbital rocket launches, pulling off 96 profitable missions in 2023 at a blistering common launch tempo of each 4 days.
SpaceX this 12 months achieved 91 launches with its Falcon 9 rocket and one other 5 with the Falcon Heavy, topping its earlier annual file of 61 orbital launches in 2022. For context, SpaceX launched Falcon 9 extra instances this 12 months than in all the first decade after the rocket’s debut.
Alongside the way in which this 12 months, SpaceX landed its 250th orbital rocket booster in addition to launched and landed a single rocket 19 instances, persevering with to push the boundaries of reusing rockets. This week, SpaceX additionally set a brand new firm file for shortest time between orbital launches, at slightly below three hours, which represents the tightest time between Florida launches since NASA’s Gemini 11 mission in 1966.
What’s extra, SpaceX’s launch rely for the 12 months doesn’t embrace its pair of Starship take a look at flights, which weren’t carrying industrial payloads certain for orbit.
Enroll right here to obtain weekly editions of CNBC’s Investing in Area e-newsletter.
Jon Edwards, SpaceX vice chairman of Falcon launch autos, wrote in a social media submit that only a few years in the past, Musk instructed “a objective of 100 launches as a thought experiment.”
“Right here we’re. I am so extremely proud to work with one of the best staff on earth, and so excited to see what we obtain subsequent 12 months,” Edwards wrote.
SpaceX officers have stated the corporate goals to launch as many as 144 Falcon missions in 2024, because it continues to deploy satellites for the Starlink system that drives a significant portion of its $180 billion valuation.
Do not miss these tales from CNBC PRO:
