SpaceX: The Falcon 9 rocket launches its largest payload into orbit

On Thursday morning, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched into space with its heaviest payload to date. According to statements made during a live stream of the flight, the Falcon 9 carried 56 Starlink broadband satellites as part of a payload weighing 17,400 kilograms (38,400 pounds) when it lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:22 a.m. ET. The first-stage rocket launched two crewed flights to the International Space Station before, as well as the CRS-22, Turksat 5B, CRS-25, Eutelsat Hotbird 13G, and mPower-a missions, and now two Starlink missions. This was the booster's ninth trip into space. Photo Credit: Wikiwand As per customary, SpaceX broadcast the initial moments of the launch live on its YouTube page. A video of the rocket leaving the launch pad on Thursday is shown below: The Falcon 9's first-stage booster made a successful landing on SpaceX's Just Read the Instructions drone ship, which was waiting off the Florida coast, about nine minutes after it had left the launchpad.

Falcon 9’s first stage has landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship pic.twitter.com/Es18PGOMsm

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 26, 2023

It is a tribute to the engineering prowess of the SpaceX engineers who created the technique for reusing the first stage of the Falcon 9 launcher that the booster was sent on its ninth trip and returned safely. By using this method, SpaceX can reduce the price of space trips while increasing the frequency of flights for clients like NASA. Photo Credit: Tesmanian Although nine flights might seem spectacular, SpaceX has another launcher that has flown on 15 space missions. The boosters are taken away for inspection and repair work after their return to Earth before being returned to the launchpad. For the first time since October 2022, SpaceX will use one of its Falcon 9 rockets to launch a crewed mission in late February. An multinational crew of four astronauts will launch on the Crew-6 mission to the International Space Station in a Crew Dragon that, like the rockets, has already completed three missions.