SpaceX completes 100 Falcon missions, all-time high in a single year

On October 23, 2024, SpaceX completed 100 space missions with a new Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

This is a significant milestone for the space rocket maker as it fell short of 100 launches in 2023 counting on 96 Falcon family missions.

It exceeded the launch roadmap and completed 100 missions in more than 60 days before the end of 2024. These are the most space rockets ever launched by any company in a year.

It’s expected that the company could add around 15 or more missions in the next two months before this year wraps up.

However, these numbers could have been better without past events.

In July, SpaceX launched the 70th Falcon mission with Starlink payload from Vandenberg California. The hot staging went well and the second stage entered orbit. However, it occurred with an engine anomaly and did not complete a second burn.

As a result, the Starlink satellite’s payload deployed a lower class against the actual plan. The company tried to raise their class but it didn’t work. FAA grounded the rocket for about 15 days, which later returned to flight schedule as usual.

In August, a Falcon 9 first stage tipped over a droneship after successfully landing post-hot staging. FAA asked this anomaly to be investigated in the background to find the root cause of the issue but it didn’t grounded the vehicle.

On September 29, 2024, SpaceX launched a Crew-9 passenger mission to the International Space Station. The launch was successful but the second stage experienced some issues.

The rocket was disposed of in the ocean but had an off-nominal deorbit burn. This led the rocket to land outside of the targeted area. This scenario also caused the Falcon 9 to stay grounded for 15 days before it made two comeback flights on October 15.

So, SpaceX could have completed more than 100 missions by October if these malfunctions had not occurred.