{"id":11943,"date":"2020-12-19T22:29:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T14:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/spacex-closes-out-record-setting-year-of-launches-from-floridas-space-coast\/"},"modified":"2020-12-19T22:29:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-19T14:29:30","slug":"spacex-closes-out-record-setting-year-of-launches-from-floridas-space-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/spacex-closes-out-record-setting-year-of-launches-from-floridas-space-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX closes out record-setting year of launches from Florida\u2019s Space Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Falcon 9 rocket takes off from pad 39A with the NROL-108 mission. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX hurled a secret cargo into space for the U.S. government\u2019s spy satellite agency Saturday, the 30th rocket launch to fly into Earth orbit from pads on Florida\u2019s Space Coast in 2020. The Falcon 9 flight broke an annual record for missions to reach orbit from the Florida spaceport that stood for 54 years.<\/p>\n

It was the 31st major rocket launch from Florida\u2019s Space Coast overall this year, including a high-altitude demonstration of SpaceX\u2019s Crew Dragon abort system in January.<\/p>\n

SpaceX logged 25 launches from Florida this year \u2014 with 24 orbital missions \u2014 and United Launch Alliance flew six times with its Atlas 5 and Delta 4-Heavy rocket families.<\/p>\n

Before 2020, the previous record for launches from the Space Coast that reached orbit was 29, a mark set in 1966. There were 31 orbital launch attempts from Cape Canaveral that year, plus two suborbital test flights of the Apollo-era Saturn 1B launcher, for a total of 33 space launches from Florida in 1966, according to a launch log maintained by Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global satellite and launch activity.<\/p>\n

A run at breaking that record will have to wait for another year.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s second dedicated mission for the National Reconnaissance Office \u2014 and the company\u2019s 26th and final flight of the year \u2014 took off at 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT) Saturday.<\/p>\n

A 229-foot-tall, or 70-meter, Falcon 9 rocket gave the classified payload an eight-minute ride into orbit from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

Nine Merlin 1D engines flashed to life and powered the 1.2-million-pound launcher off pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, driving the Falcon 9 through scattered clouds toward the northeast from Florida\u2019s Space Coast.<\/p>\n

The kerosene-fueled launcher shut down its first stage engines nearly two-and-half minutes into the flight, allowing the booster to drop away and begin a \u201cboostback\u201d maneuver by reigniting some of its engines.<\/p>\n

The booster reversed course and made a supersonic descent back to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, where the rocket settled to an on-target touchdown on Landing Zone 1 a little more than eight minutes after takeoff.<\/p>\n

The reusable booster, designated B1059, completed its fifth trip to space and back. It was the 70th time SpaceX successfully recovered a Falcon booster since nailing the first intact landing on Dec. 21, 2015, five years ago Monday.<\/p>\n

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off Saturday from pad 39A at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. Credit: National Reconnaissance Office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The exact purpose of the NRO payload on Saturday\u2019s mission, codenamed NROL-108, was kept secret by the government spy satellite agency. SpaceX\u2019s live webcast of the launch focused on the return of the first stage to Cape Canaveral, and ended live video from the upper stage at the request of the NRO.<\/p>\n

The NRO declared the launch a success in a tweet several hours after liftoff, wrapping up the intelligence-gathering agency\u2019s sixth launch of the year.<\/p>\n

It was the 26th Falcon 9 launch by SpaceX alone this year, including 25 flights from Florida and one from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. SpaceX\u2019s previous record for the most Falcon launches in a year was 21 in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cNROL-108 carries a national security payload designed, built and operated by the National Reconnaissance Office,\u201d a NRO spokesperson said in response to questions from Spaceflight Now. \u201cAdditional details about the payload and its mission are protected. The name or names of the contractor or contractors associated with building this payload is\/are also protected.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NROL-108 mission did not appear on any public launch schedules until early October, when Spaceflight Now was first to report the existence of the mission. At that time, the mission was scheduled for Oct. 25, but the flight was delayed several times amid changing SpaceX launch schedules and other NRO launch activity at Cape Canaveral.<\/p>\n