SpaceX just did it! NEW Record-breaking, no one ever done it before...

This is the 17th landing, a record-breaking attempt that no one has ever done before. SpaceX's Falcon 9 just set a re-use record. The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Spaceport Station in Florida on Tuesday, 1138 PM EDT, carrying 22 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites toward low-Earth orbit. Its first stage returned to Earth 8.5 minutes after launch, landing on a SpaceX drone ship stationed at sea. This is the 67th SpaceX launch of the year, a staggering total for the company and its workhorse booster, the Falcon 9. And at this pace, with a clip of one launch every four days, the company will likely launch 90 or more rockets during this calendar year. More importantly, it marked the first time SpaceX has re-used a Falcon 9 first stage 17 times. This booster, serial number 1058, first flew back in June of 2020, carrying the GPS 3-3 satellite for the U.S. Space Force, and went on to fly the Turksat-5A, Transporter 2, Intelsat G-33 slash G-34, and Transporter 6 missions, plus 11 Starlink delivery flights. Those figures are unprecedented. The previous mark was 16, also held by two different Falcon 9 boosters. At this point, SpaceX is mainly competing with itself. The 22 Starlink satellites, meanwhile, deployed from the Falcon 9's upper stage 62.5 minutes after launch as planned. Falcon 9's first stage has landed on the A Shortfall of Gravitas drone ship, completing the first, 17th launch and landing of a booster, SpaceX announced on X. The company's CEO also shared the record and reaffirmed 17th landing. Additionally, SpaceX has been able to push the limits of booster use while maintaining a 100% record of success across the Falcon 9 rocket's last 228 launches, dating to a pad explosion back in September of 2016. In a pre-flight teleconference, Bill Gerstenmayer, SpaceX's Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, discussed the company's certification process for booster flights. He mentioned their goal of certifying boosters for up to 20 missions to maximize reusability and cost-effectiveness. As part of its maintenance process, SpaceX still does some basic inspections and replaces engines and other critical components from time to time. Additionally, the company only risks its own, internally built Starlink satellites on the most experienced boosters, reserving rockets with less mileage for its customers. To put it simply, SpaceX has clearly become the most prolific launch provider since the first Falcon 1 successfully made orbit back in 2008. Including this launch, Musk's company will have managed 265 successful launches across its Falcon 1, 9, and Heavy rockets, with the last launch failure back in 2015. It'll also mark its 227th landing and 199th reuse of a rocket booster. In comparison, the ULA has managed 157 launches since it was formed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin in 2006. With its busiest year in 2009, when it had 16 launches. That pace slowed in the last few years, with ULA only managing 5 or 6 launches from 2019 to 2021, 8 in 2022, and only 2 so far this year. After SpaceX and ULA, the next busiest launch provider is Rocket Lab, albeit with smaller rockets. It was on record pace to hit 15 launches in 2023, but suffered an issue during a launch attempt earlier Tuesday from its New Zealand launch facilities, resulting in a loss of its customer payload, a satellite for Capella Space. The Electron rocket completed its first stage burn and stage separation, but suffered an issue at 2 minutes and 30 seconds into flight. This mission was its 9th launch attempt for the year, which is how many it had back in 2022. To date, Rocket Lab has had 37 successful orbital missions across 41 attempts, including flights from the U.S. for the first time this year from Virginia. For now, the next launch is postponed, as Rocket Lab works with the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate. But back to SpaceX's achievement. Not only Falcon 9, but in just about two weeks from now, we will witness another historic launch of the Falcon Heavy. NASA's Psyche spacecraft is scheduled to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 5th, through the launch window extending through October 25th, with each day offering one opportunity. Psyche will arrive at its namesake, a 280-kilometer metallic object in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter in the summer of 2029, providing a feast for scientists and lots of eye candy for space fans. I am so looking forward to seeing those first images. Lori Glaze, Director of NASA's Planetary Sciences Division, said during a news conference earlier this month. They are going to be spectacular when we finally get to see what this metal asteroid looks like up close. Next month's launch will be a milestone moment for SpaceX as well. It'll mark the first Falcon Heavy liftoff for NASA, as well as the rocket's first interplanetary mission. The Falcon Heavy, which is the second most powerful rocket currently in operation, has lifted off just seven times to date, most recently on July 28th. Psyche was supposed to be aloft already. The original plan called for launch in the fall of 2022, but problems with the spacecraft's flight software led to a one-year delay. Those kinks have all been worked out, said mission team members who are eager for the upcoming liftoff. Henry Stone, Psyche's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said. It's getting increasingly real. We are counting the days. The team is more than ready to send this spacecraft off on its journey, and it's very exciting. Liftoff will kick off a long cruise phase for Psyche, which will use highly efficient solar electric propulsion to make its way to the asteroid belt. A gravity-assist flyby of Mars in May of 2026 will boost Psyche's velocity, helping it reach its target space rock in late July of 2029. The probe will then study the asteroid up close for 26 months, circling lower and lower until it orbits a mere 64 kilometers above Psyche's surface. Scientists don't know what that surface looks like, since they've never gotten a good look at Psyche or any other metal asteroid, but they have some intriguing ideas. And for the last bit of news today, also related to a payload previously launched on the Falcon 9, after manufacturing crystals of an HIV drug in space, the first orbital factory is stuck in orbit after being denied re-entry back to Earth due to safety concerns. Specifically, the U.S. Air Force denied a request from Varda Space Industries to land its in-space manufacturing capsule at a Utah training site, while the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration did not grant the company permission to re-enter Earth's atmosphere, leaving its spacecraft hanging as the company scrambles to find a solution. A spokesperson from the FAA shared that the company's request was not granted at this time due to the overall safety, risk, and impact analysis. Varda Space launched its spacecraft on board a Falcon 9 rocket back on June 12th. The 120-kilogram capsule is designed to manufacture products in a microgravity environment and transport them back to Earth. On June 30th, its first drug manufacturing experiment succeeded, in which the task involves growing crystals of the drug ritonavir, which is used for the treatment of HIV, in orbit. The microgravity environment provides some benefits that could make for better production in space, overall reducing gravity-induced defects. Protein crystals made in space form larger and more perfect crystals than those created on Earth, according to NASA. Varda's capsule was originally scheduled for re-entry on September 5th or 7th, but the company's application was denied on September 6th, according to TechCrunch. Varda formally requested that the FAA reconsider its decision on September 8th, and that request is still pending. It's a very different type of re-entry capsule. If you think about it, both Dragon and Starliner, these are vehicles that are $100 million-plus minimum to build, and billion-dollar-plus total programs. These are meant to carry humans, have active control, fully pressurized environments, as Sparrowhove is quoted as saying in an interview. This in-space manufacturing capsule is a byproduct of a growing space industry, which grants easier access to low-Earth orbit. The current regulatory debacle is also the result of a young space industry, one in which proper regulations of spacecraft are still taking shape. In any case, that's it for today, folks. If you want to support our channel and get access to exclusive content, please consider becoming a patron by clicking the link in the description below. We appreciate your generosity, your passion for space exploration, and for sticking around for yet another year to spend my special day together listening to the current events of the space industry. That's right. How time flies. If you want to leave some kind words for me and the team, that'd be great. Thank you so much. And as always, this is Kevin from GreatSpaceX, and until next time, keep looking up.