updates
Falcon's 100th successful flight
On October 24, 2020, SpaceX said a 60-satellite Starlink launch from SLC-40 was Falcon's 100th success, with 63 landings and 45 reflights.
Topics: space-civilization
This page is an original Muskularity summary. It does not republish SpaceX’s full post. Figures are the company’s statements on the cited date unless another primary link is named.
Summary
Falcon 9 launched 60 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral SLC-40 at 11:31 a.m. EDT on October 24, 2020. The booster had flown GPS III SV03 in June and a Starlink mission in September, and it landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions. Deployment was about an hour and three minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX marked the flight as the 100th successful Falcon launch since Falcon 1 reached orbit in 2008. Of those 100, it counted 63 first-stage landings and 45 reflights, and said a booster had flown a sixth time twice that year. Falcon 9 was described as the most-flown operational U.S. rocket in the ten years since its demonstration flight. Landing difficulty is illustrated with a company comparison: a 14-story stage above 1,300 meters per second. The post argues that reuse is what would cut the cost of reaching other planets. That cost claim is a company thesis, not a price list.
Key facts
| Fact | Label |
|---|---|
| October 24, 2020, 11:31 a.m. EDT, 60 Starlink satellites, SLC-40 | Company launch report |
| 100th successful Falcon flight since Falcon 1 in 2008 | Company milestone count |
| 63 landings and 45 reflights within those 100 flights | Company reuse tally |
Why it matters
The reuse numbers are the Falcon baseline under Starlink before Starship flies. Later anomaly and cadence posts should be read against this 2020 scoreboard, not as if reuse were new.
On this site
Sources
- SpaceX update, October 24, 2020 — Grade A, company post
- Starlink site linked from the post — Grade A, product page
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