Falcon 9 B1060

Falcon 9 B1060 was a Falcon 9 first-stage booster manufactured and operated by SpaceX. It was the senior active booster vehicle for the company since the demise of B1058 on 25 December 2023 during transit back to shore, until being expended for the Galileo FOC FM25 & FM27 mission on 28 April 2024. It had flown 20 missions and landed 19 times.

First flying in the summer of 2020, B1060 had broken several records in spaceflight, and launched the first successful American Lunar lander since 1972.

Activities

First flight

On its maiden flight, B1060 launched GPS III SV03 into a middle Earth orbit with an inclination of 55 degrees from SLC-40. SpaceX was awarded five GPS III launches, with the then-Air Force awarding the company the satellite family's maiden launch in 2017. That mission was flown successfully on 23 December 2018, and required a newly built Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1054) to be expended on its maiden flight. This launch, the Space Force had approved for the rocket to withhold some of its propellant, allowing B1060 to land on droneship ''Just Read The Instructions'' after completing its mission''.''

Starlink duty and records

Due to landing failures of previous flight-proven boosters, the early success of B1060 was seen as key to expand SpaceX's Starlink service as quickly as possible.

For its second flight, B1060 was assigned to Starlink 11. This was slated to be the company's 100th launch, but that title eventually went to SAOCOM 1B. B1060 lofted 60 Starlink V1 satellites to low Earth orbit on 3 September 2020 and landed on ''Of Course I Still Love You.'' This was the first flight of this booster from LC-39A. B1060 flew its second Starlink mission, Starlink 14, on 24 October 2020, and landed on ''Just Read The Instructions''. SpaceX was visibly working on its launch cadence, with the previous Starlink launch having taken place just four days prior. There were just 51 days between the second and third flight of this rocket, at the time an orbital flight turnaround world record. On its fifth flight, B1060 launched Starlink 18, just 28 hours before another Starlink mission, and broke a turnaround record again, this time launching twice in less than a month (27 days)''.''

B1060 launched Starlink 22 on 24 March 2021, 15 years to the day after SpaceX's first orbital launch attempt ( Falcon 1 flight 1). At the time, SpaceX planned for Starlink to have worldwide coverage later that year, while running a beta program. B1060 landed on ''Of Course I Still Love You'' after successfully completing its mission. The booster launched another 60 Starlink satellites to orbit for Starlink 24 on 29 April 2021, when SpaceX received permission to alter the trajectories of its Starlink satellites as the service stepped out of its beta phase.

B1060 launched six batches of Starlink V1.5 satellites, an upgrade announced in January 2021, between December 2021 and July 2023. During this period, SpaceX pushed the limits of its first-stage Falcon 9 boosters to launch, land and relaunch more frequently. By January 2022, B1060 was among four boosters with ten flights under its belt, marking the start of a longevity rivalry with Demo-2 booster B1058. After completing Group 4-19, B1060 became the first rocket booster to ever fly and land 13 times. It reached 15 at the beginning of 2023, requiring SpaceX to recertify its Falcon fleet for further duty in a process that lasted several months. In September that year, it reached 17 total flights with its first launch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites, from SLC-40. It launched its last batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites from LC-39A on 24 March 2024, again on the anniversary of SpaceX's first orbital launch attempt.

Commercial satellite launches

The launch of Türksat 5A was the first orbital launch of 2021. It was preceded by a series of protests, owing to the tensions between Azerbaijan and Armenia, near SpaceX Headquarters. The launch was successful and B1060 landed on ''Just Read The Instructions.'' The rocket launched Galaxy 33 and 34 for Intelsat on 8 October 2022, and tied with B1058 for the most completed flights for first-stage rockets, at fourteen.

Transporter missions

Transporter, SpaceX's satellite ridesharing service, was established in 2019 to serve relatively affordable access to space for smaller businesses, universities and individuals, in particular for those operating large amounts of small satellites.

B1060 flew Transporter-2 on 30 June 2021, the anniversary of its first launch. It was the second mission to a polar orbit from Florida by SpaceX. A total of 88 payloads were released, including three Starlink satellites, several satellites for the Pentagon and the pathfinder for NASA's TROPICS mission. After stage separation, B1060 performed its first return-to-launch-site landing.

The booster opened a busy 2023 with the launch of its second ridesharing mission, Transporter-6, releasing 114 payloads into sun-synchronous orbit. SpaceX uploaded a sped-up onboard video of the booster's launch and landing on this mission.

Launch of IM-1

B1060 was assigned to IM-1, the second landing attempt for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, in late January or early February 2024. It had not launched since September 2023.

The Nova-C lander, named ''Odysseus,'' was powered by liquid methane and oxygen, requiring it to be fueled on the launchpad while encapsulated in its payload fairing. Issues with this process delayed the launch with one day, but the mission launched within the tight window of opportunity, on 15 February 2024. This was the first time a Lunar mission lifted off from LC-39A since Apollo 17 in 1972, as well as the 300th Falcon 9 mission. The booster performed a successful return-to-launch-site landing at LZ-1, completing its eighteenth flight.

''Odysseus'' would eventually touch down on Malapert A, becoming the first commercially developed vehicle to ever soft-land on the Moon, and the first successful American Lunar landing since the end of the Apollo program 52 years prior. NASA mentioned SpaceX as a key contributor to the success of this mission.

Galileo (final flight)

In the early 2020s, the European Space Agency was forced to move most launches of its fully European-produced satellites to SpaceX. The agency lost its own capability to launch heavier payloads after the retirement of the Ariane 5 in 2023, and tensions with Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine put its use of Soyuz rockets on hold. While waiting for the Ariane 6 to become operational, the Falcon 9 became the agency's launch vehicle of choice. Among the payloads put forward are four satellites for Galileo, the European Union's independent satellite navigation system co-developed with ESA.

For its 20th and final flight, B1060 launched a pair of Galileo satellites, FM25 "Patrick" and FM27 "Julina", into medium-Earth orbit on 28 April 2024 UTC. ESA and the EU paid approximately €180 million ($192 million) to SpaceX to conduct two Galileo missions. Being the senior and one of the most often flown Falcon 9 first stages, the decision was made to use this booster for the flight, that required SpaceX to burn the rocket to depletion to meet the extra performance requirements needed for the mission.

Flight history

Note

References

{{reflist
Rocket propulsion
Boosters (rocketry)
Individual Falcon 9 boosters
Falcon 9