Over the last decade, SpaceX has earned their way to the top of the commercial aerospace industry through innovative engineering and taking risks. They used billions of NASA / taxpayer seed money to develop their workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, Dragon spacecrafts and the various support architecture that such systems required. Elon nearly went broke building SpaceX, before NASA stepped in to save them with big contracts.
In doing so they’ve produced a reusable system that brings the cost of spaceflight down dramatically, while also facilitating a more rapid cadence of flights. This allows more customers access to space as launch costs have dropped dramatically. With additional customers and the use of reusable technology their rockets fly often and are reused frequently, one booster has even been used 19 times already!
Nature called ballgame on the most used booster today.
All good things must end, and that’s no different for their flight-leading 19 mission booster. The rocket just launched another batch of SpaceX Starlink satellites on Dec 23 from Cape Canaveral, before landing on a company “drone ship” off the coast of FL.
Typically, SpaceX secured the booster and sets sails with it for Port Canaveral, where it is retrieved and transported back to SpaceX for refurbishment before its next flight.
The landing zone experienced high winds and waves which played havoc on the drone pad today. The rockets are typically secured to the deck with a giant “grabber” after landing, but nature overpowered it today. After landing, empty booster tipped over and broke in half, with its top half sinking to the bottom of the Atlantic.
How many times can a rocket fly?
No one knows yet. A few years ago, SpaceX was aiming for 10 flights per booster before needing replacement. This booster that was destroyed today flew successfully 19 times. Had it not been for the wind and waves, who knows how many more missions it could have flown.
Aerial images of the drone ship and rocket returning to Port today appear to show that one of the rocket’s landing legs caved in, causing the booster to tip over.
