Watch SpaceX Launch Three Falcon 9 Rockets in a 36-Hour Span This Weekend

The company is on pace to launch nearly twice as many rockets as it did in 2021.

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Eric Mack

June 17, 2022 1:28 p.m. PT

2 min read

SpaceX's Falcon 9 lifts off Friday from Florida with a cargo of Starlink satellites.
SpaceX

Elon Musk's space company has back-to-back-to-back orbital missions lined up on Friday and Sunday.

The launch-a-palooza began at 9:09 a.m. PT (12:09 p.m. ET) Friday with a Falcon 9 rocket blasting off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center carrying yet another batch of 53 SpaceX Starlink broadband satellites to low-Earth orbit.

Less than 24 hours later another Falcon 9 is set to liftoff at 7:19 a.m. PT from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This mission will deliver the SARah-1 reconnaissance satellite to orbit for the German military.

And then about 14 hours later, a third Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch a commercial telecommunications satellite for Globalstar from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. That mission is set to blast off at 9:27 p.m. PT Saturday (12:27 a.m. ET Sunday), just a little over 36 hours after the Friday launch from just a few miles away.

This marks the shortest timeframe for three SpaceX launches so far in the company's history.

You can rewatch the Starlink mission below. Check in with CNET Highlights on YouTube or the SpaceX website for feeds to watch this weekend's other missions.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has long said that he envisioned being able to turn around a Falcon 9 and relaunch it within hours of landing. That's not exactly what's happening this weekend, as the company is conducting three separate missions with three different rockets and launch pads.

While it's not the same as flying the same rocket twice in a single day, the company's busy schedule is evidence of a big increase in launch cadence in 2022. If all three missions leave the planet this weekend, it will mark 26 Falcon 9 launches so far this year. The company record for most launches in a calendar year was set in 2021 with 31 flights. SpaceX could be on pace to nearly double that mark in 2022.

The company has also set a new record already this weekend. The booster that launched Friday's Starlink mission flew for the 13th time, a new mark for reusability for a Falcon 9.

While Falcon 9 use has ramped up, Musk has said he ultimately hopes to migrate Starlink missions and others onto the next-generation Starship vehicle. Starship recently passed a key environmental review for its first orbital test flight, although with dozens of required mitigations.

It's now feasible Starship could launch in the coming weeks, but the Federal Aviation Administration has yet to issue an official launch license for the flight.