SpaceX completes three launches in less than 13 hours — Ars Technica
In the United States, SpaceX carried out two Falcon 9 rocket launches and one Falcon Heavy launch in less than 13 hours. As part of this series of missions, the company also returned four boosters to Earth: two Falcon 9 first stages and two Falcon Heavy side boosters, Ars Technica reports.
Three missions in one day
The first was the Crew-13 mission: a Falcon 9 launched from the SLC-40 pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and placed a Dragon spacecraft with four astronauts into orbit. The crew headed to the International Space Station for a six-month expedition. The mission commander was Jessica Watkins, the first Black woman to lead a space mission.
A few hours later, another Falcon 9 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of the Transporter-18 mission. The rocket delivered 130 payloads to a polar sun-synchronous orbit. They included a Google artificial intelligence prototype, a device for tracking methane emissions, and laboratories for pharmaceutical manufacturing.
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The launch series concluded with a Falcon Heavy that lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying a classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office. It was the first Falcon Heavy launch for the agency. It is publicly known that the payload was placed into a high-inclination orbit.
Four booster landings
The first stages of both Falcon 9 rockets returned to landing sites in Florida and California. The two Falcon Heavy side boosters landed at the US Space Force base at Cape Canaveral. On the same day, the Dragon spacecraft from the Crew-13 mission docked with the ISS.
Earlier that week, SpaceX conducted the 14th test flight of Starship. The rocket's upper stage reached orbital speed and deployed 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. The test was shortened from the planned 10 hours to three hours after one Raptor engine failed during ascent, but the spacecraft splashed down in one of the backup return areas north of Hawaii.
