SpaceX, a company still unknown 6 years ago, has just carried out the 100th first stage recovery in its history.
Six years ago, to the day, a small company almost unknown to the world of space made the headlines. This firm is SpaceX. Since December 22, 2015, she has grown well, and is today a heavyweight in the global space industry. That day, she had achieved the first feat of her career.
The company of Elon Musk, then a billionaire unknown to the general public had indeed recovered the boosters of his Falcon 9 rocket during a satellite launch on behalf of the Orbcomm company. This feat, never before achieved in the world of space, then paved the way for reusable launchers, which undoubtedly brought a little nostalgia to lovers of space shuttles.
Following this feat, SpaceX did not stop there and the company had the growth that we know it. As the launches followed, the company had less and less difficulty recovering its boosters, the activity becoming almost mundane. But six years later, SpaceX is still there, still throwing boosters, collecting them and even starting to reuse them.
On this anniversary date, this is another key figure that SpaceX has just released, that of the 100th successful reception of boosters. On this December 22, 2021, the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket landed on the droneship “Just Read the Instructions” in the Atlantic Ocean, when the weather conditions were really not very good.
A symbolic figure that obviously pleased the boss of the firm, Elon Musk, who took the opportunity to use his favorite weapon: his Twitter account.
100th SpaceX rocket landing was today https://t.co/ysO9siYCee
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2021
Today SpaceX succeeds in 82% of cases these receptions of boosters, and the last failure dates back to February 16, 2020. On the last 100 flights, SpaceX even displays the staggering recovery percentage of 96%. While reusable rockets were sci-fi objects 10 years ago, the Texan firm has won its crazy bet, and made it all possible, but on top of that, trivialize the incredible.
