SpaceX on Thursday launched its second mission of the year, and first from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
A Falcon 9 rocket on the Transporter-3 mission, a dedicated rideshare mission carrying 105 spacecraft into orbit, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:25 a.m.
The company was able to land the first-stage booster on land at Canaveral’s Landing Zone 1. The booster has previously been used on nine other missions including the Crew Demo-2 launch.
It’s the 102nd successful first booster recovery.
The mission is the first of three planned each year dedicated to small satellites. Rideshare opportunities are also offered when the company makes room in payloads during its own internet Starlink satellite flights.
The launch follows a Starlink mission last week from Kennedy Space Center. SpaceX flew a record 31 successful Falcon 9 launches in 2021 from KSC, Canaveral and Vandenberg Space Force Station in California.
The company will also attempt to retrieve both of two new fairing halves as part of its plan to reuse as much from each rocket launch as possible, an effort to drive down launch costs.
