Insider Brief:
- SpaceX is well on its way to achieving its ambitious goal of 144 Falcon-class missions in 2024.
- In the first week of the year, the company has already completed three flights.
- SpaceX isn’t the only company with their sights on the stars – United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan-Centaur has also been launched within days of ringing in 2024.
SpaceX is demonstrating a strong commitment to achieving its goal of up to 144 Falcon-class missions in 2024, having already completed its third flight within the first week of the year.
In 2023, SpaceX achieved a record-breaking 96 flights, using both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. The organization aims to increase its launch frequency to up to a dozen times per month by the end of the year, requiring a launching mission every 2.5 days as reported by America’s Space.
With three successful missions completed in the first week of 2024, including Starlink satellite launches and placing Sweden’s Ovzon-3 broadband communications satellite into Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO), SpaceX is on track to meet its ambitious goal.
Additionally, there was the recent launch of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan-Centaur heavylifter, intended to replace the Atlas V and Delta IV fleets. The maiden flight of Vulcan-Centaur launched at 2:18 a.m. EST on Monday, aiming to deliver Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander and Celestis, Inc.’s Enterprise Flight memorial payload into space. Due to unforeseen technical challenges, the Peregrine lander will be unable to achieve a soft touch-down.
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