The 100th Falcon 9 launches, sets two records

Nov. 24th 9:13 PM Est, atop a Falcon 9 rocket from SLC-40 at Canaveral Air Force Station

For the 100th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX once again found a small window of opportunity to launch. Storms surrounded the area, with rain even falling on the launch pad shortly before the scheduled lift off time. Thick with clouds, most viewing through out the state was at least partially blocked, but that didn't stop the booster 1049 from making history in record ways. Besides the 100th flight of a Falcon 9 rocket, this mission also marked a first for the company. A first stage booster has now successfully launched and landed for a record seven times.

The booster first flew in September of 2018 from SLC-40 at Canaveral Air Force Station. It then made the trip to California to be flown in January of 2019 from Vandenburg Air Force Base to launch the Iridium NEXT mission. Then it was back to Florida where it flew four more Starlink missions, prior to this mission, the last in August of 2020. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has stated many times the goal is to have each booster fly at least ten times with minor refurbishment.