SpaceX Launches Two Falcon 9 Rockets just 38 Minutes Apart (space.com)
(Sunday August 16, 2026 @03:34AM (EditorDavid)
from the give-me-some-space dept.)
- Reference: 0184996784
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/08/16/0647207/spacex-launches-two-falcon-9-rockets-just-38-minutes-apart
- Source link: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-breaks-record-launch-doubleheader-ussf-366-globalstar-2r
An anonymous reader shares [1]this report from Space.com :
> On Saturday evening (Aug. 15), SpaceX set another mark, for the shortest time between orbital flights: It launched two Falcon 9 rockets just 38 minutes apart, besting its old mark — [2]set on Aug. 31, 2024 with two Starlink missions — by 27 minutes.
>
> The first liftoff, from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, occurred Saturday at 9:12 p.m. EDT (0112 GMT on Aug. 16) and carried eight satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) for Louisiana-based telecom company Globalstar. All eight spacecraft were deployed successfully, separating over a six-minute span beginning 56.5 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX [3]announced via social media . While that Falcon 9 was powering its way to low Earth orbit, another one launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, on California's central coast. That liftoff, at 9:50 p.m. EDT (6:50 p.m. local time; 0150 GMT on Aug. 16), kicked off a mission for the U.S. Space Force called USSF-366...
>
> Both of Saturday's missions featured successful rocket landings. The Falcon 9 first stage that launched the Globalstar mission came back for a touchdown at Cape Canaveral about eight minutes after launch. It was the 14th flight for that particular booster. The USSF-366 Falcon 9 first stage, meanwhile, came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after its launch, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX droneship "Of Course I Still Love You." That booster now has 18 missions under its belt.
>
> Saturday's doubleheader brought the tally of Falcon 9 launches in 2026 to 96. The vast majority of those — about 75% — have been Starlink missions.
[1] https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-breaks-record-launch-doubleheader-ussf-366-globalstar-2r
[2] https://www.space.com/spacex-back-to-back-rocket-launches-landings-after-booster-touchdown-failure
[3] https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2088812375818567975
> On Saturday evening (Aug. 15), SpaceX set another mark, for the shortest time between orbital flights: It launched two Falcon 9 rockets just 38 minutes apart, besting its old mark — [2]set on Aug. 31, 2024 with two Starlink missions — by 27 minutes.
>
> The first liftoff, from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, occurred Saturday at 9:12 p.m. EDT (0112 GMT on Aug. 16) and carried eight satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO) for Louisiana-based telecom company Globalstar. All eight spacecraft were deployed successfully, separating over a six-minute span beginning 56.5 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX [3]announced via social media . While that Falcon 9 was powering its way to low Earth orbit, another one launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, on California's central coast. That liftoff, at 9:50 p.m. EDT (6:50 p.m. local time; 0150 GMT on Aug. 16), kicked off a mission for the U.S. Space Force called USSF-366...
>
> Both of Saturday's missions featured successful rocket landings. The Falcon 9 first stage that launched the Globalstar mission came back for a touchdown at Cape Canaveral about eight minutes after launch. It was the 14th flight for that particular booster. The USSF-366 Falcon 9 first stage, meanwhile, came back to Earth about 8.5 minutes after its launch, touching down in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX droneship "Of Course I Still Love You." That booster now has 18 missions under its belt.
>
> Saturday's doubleheader brought the tally of Falcon 9 launches in 2026 to 96. The vast majority of those — about 75% — have been Starlink missions.
[1] https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-breaks-record-launch-doubleheader-ussf-366-globalstar-2r
[2] https://www.space.com/spacex-back-to-back-rocket-launches-landings-after-booster-touchdown-failure
[3] https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2088812375818567975
RST launch coming up (Score:2)
by Tailhook ( 98486 )
In two weeks (Aug 30) SpaceX will launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.to the Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2). In about half a decade, we're going expand knowledge about extrasolar planet population in this galaxy to an extreme degree using this instrument.
Not that impressive (Score:1)
On a good day I can launch two "rockets" in matter of minutes. Sometimes three.
Re: (Score:2)
Now you should focus on extending the countdown to longer than 15 seconds.
Re: (Score:2)
No way. Sitting on the bowl for too long makes the hemorrhoids worse.