SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted a record-breaking cargo into space

This week, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket put into orbit the heaviest payload in its history. The launch took place on January 26 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 02:22 p.m. GMT+2. The record-breaking cargo consisted of 56 Starlink Internet satellites weighing 17.4 tons.

Launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Photo: Unsplash

The record-breaking flight of the Falcon 9 was the ninth of this first stage of a reusable rocket. It previously launched two crewed missions to the International Space Station, as well as CRS-22, Turksat 5B, CRS-25, Eutelsat Hotbird 13G and mPower-a, and now two Starlink missions. As usual, SpaceX broadcast the early stages of the flight on its YouTube channel. Below is a video of a rocket flying off from the launch site on Thursday.

Almost nine minutes after the Falcon 9 left the launch pad, the first-stage booster returned to Earth to make a perfect landing on an unmanned floating platform waiting off the coast of Florida.

Demonstration of the genius of SpaceX engineers

Sending the launch vehicle on its ninth flight and its safe return is the fruit of the genius of SpaceX engineers who developed a system for reusing the first stage of the Falcon 9. This process allows SpaceX to significantly reduce the cost of space flights by offering a higher frequency of launches for its customers, among whom there is even NASA.

SpaceX is preparing to use one of its rockets to send Crew-6 at the end of February. The mission will take an international crew of four astronauts to the ISS on a reusable Dragon spacecraft.

Earlier we reported on how the wedding couple took a photo against the background of the launch of the SpaceX rocket.

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