SpaceX cracked another pair of records on December 7th. It used one of its Falcon 9 boosters for the 32nd time, itself a spectacular achievement. The booster (1067) was used on a launch from Kennedy Space Center and part of the cargo of Starlink satellites is the 3,000th to be launched this year – and the year isn’t over.

The use of Booster 1067 on this mission brings SpaceX one step closer to its current aim of certifying its Falcon boosters for up to 40 missions a piece. It wasn’t so long ago that the aim was a 5-times reuse, then 10-times, then 20-times. The ultimate number of missions a booster flies will partially depend on the types of missions for which it was used and if it is needed on an expendable flight. But 32 flights is itself a tribute to the design and engineering skills of the SpaceX team.

This flight followed on from a flight on December 7th when a Falcon 9 rocket launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9’s first stage (Booster 1088) completed its 12th flight, making a propulsive landing on the ‘Of Course I Still Love You’ droneship stationed downrange in the Pacific Ocean.

The Starlink constellation now comprises more than 9,100 operational satellites. Sunday’s launch from Vandenberg was SpaceX’s 115th Starlink launch and 157th Falcon 9 flight of the year

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