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SpaceX just surpassed ULA to snag an American launch record (and landed a rocket)
SpaceX has successfully completed its 84th Falcon 9 rocket launch (and 52nd booster landing), surpassing the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V to snag a long-standing American launch record.
At 3:30 pm EDT (19:30 UTC), Falcon 9 lifted off right on time after a seven-day delay and rare one-day slip forward. The 6th Starlink v1.0 mission and 7th Starlink launch overall, Falcon 9 successfully placed another batch of 60 satellites in orbit just 35 days after an almost identical booster suffered SpaceX’s first in-flight engine failure in more than eight years. Thankfully, SpaceX says that it already determined what went wrong on March 18th and the successful launch on April 22nd certainly goes a long way towards confirming its conclusions.
Like all Starlink v1.0 launches, a flight-proven Falcon 9 booster (B1051’s fourth flight) and a new upper stage worked together to send some 16 metric tons (~35,000 lb) of Starlink satellites into a very low Earth orbit (VLEO). Booster B1051 performed exactly as expected on its fourth orbital-class launch, burning for about 2.5 minutes before separating and allowing an expendable Falcon 9 upper stage to continue to orbit with its Starlink payload. About six minutes later, after a successful reentry burn and landing burn, the rocket gently touched down on drone ship Of Course I Still Love You (OCISLY). Seconds later, the upper stage shut down after safely placing 60 Starlink satellites in the correct orbit.
Another six minutes later, the same upper stage successfully deployed all 60 Starlink satellites, allowing them to slowly spread out on there own – a bit like a giant deck of cards with the weight of a small tank.
Aside from serving as an extremely reassuring return-to-flight and return-to-landing for Falcon 9 after an in-flight engine failure and two back-to-back booster landing failures, the successful launch also means that Falcon 9 now holds a significant US rocketry record. In essence, SpaceX’s workhorse rocket is now the most prolific US launch vehicle currently operating, surpassing the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V. Since August 2002, the ULA rocket has completed 83 (mostly) successful launches.
Debuting more than eight years after Atlas V, Falcon 9 passed the 83 launch mark on March 18th and has now successfully crested 84 launches with its April 22nd Starlink-6 mission. In other words, despite operating less than half as long as Atlas V, Falcon 9 has already completed more launches than the ULA workhorse rocket, averaging one launch every 1.3 months compared to Atlas V’s 2.7 months. While SpaceX’s latest Falcon 9 v1.2 rocket variant has only launched 62 of its 84 missions since it debuted in 2015, it’s still considered slightly more reliable than the famously reliable Atlas V.
In short, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket continues to prove itself to be exceptionally capable and reliable, while also managing to rapidly become one of the most-launched US rockets ever. Given that SpaceX is set on continuously and aggressively increasing the rocket’s launch cadence, Falcon 9 may be just a few years away from becoming the most-launched modern US rocket ever – a title currently held by Delta II (retired in 2018).
Elon Musk shed two new bits of detail on Starship following its 13th test launch, which was an overwhelming success.
SpaceX launched Starship for the 13th time last Friday after two delays: one on Monday when several Raptor engines did not ignite, and another on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions in Starbase, Texas.
The launch was overwhelmingly successful. SpaceX was able to complete a necessary test of the heat shield tiles by increasing the acceleration of Starship from launch throughout the flight; 20 Starlink v3 satellites were released with no issue; the Super Heavy Booster landed safely in the Gulf of America, Ship successfully reignited engines while in space; and it also splashed down without incident in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Nevertheless, more details are coming out about Starship, and Musk is doing the talking.
Starship Will Be Retrieved in the Ocean
Musk revealed on Tuesday night that Starship would be recovered by a ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX routinely tries to recover Starship after splashdown in an effort to find out more about the flight by examining the spacecraft afterward.
We’re sending a ship out to recover Starship https://t.co/fUqUZTITO9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2026
This helps engineers find out more about why things might have happened, allows them to examine any potential damage or anomalies that might have occurred, and increases the chances of an even more successful flight next time thanks to the additional information recovered.
Ship Could Have Been Caught by Tower Arms, Musk claims
Musk has already indicated that SpaceX will plan to attempt a catch of Starship with the 14th test flight. While this would be a major accomplishment, it would be an expected next step, considering the fact that the Super Heavy Booster has already been caught by the chopsticks on numerous occasions.
The ship landing was precise, meaning that it would have been caught by the tower arms https://t.co/6nbNrRfX9P
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
A ship catch would be a great indication of where SpaceX stands in terms of reusability and launch cadence. A successful catch with relatively no incidents would be a good sign that SpaceX is nearing a more frequent launch of Starship, but also that the reusability of the massive rocket would be something many would expect in the near future.
It is a necessity to make life multiplanetary.
Elon Musk has updated his timeline for when humans will walk on Mars and for when ships will simply get there.
The objective of getting to Mars has been one of Musk’s biggest goals since becoming a serial entrepreneur and realizing that time on Earth is limited. Musk has said several times he hopes to die on Mars, and not by impact.
Musk now believes that people will be on Mars in “roughly 5 to 7 years.” He said that a Mars lander will get there “a few years sooner.”
People on Mars in roughly 5 to 7 years.
Mars lander a few years sooner.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
The response from Musk comes after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX’s biggest priority is the Moon and not Mars. Because of this, Isaacman conceded that he believes nuclear power and propulsion investments will provide “potentially the pathway with the fewest miracles required to put four people on Mars in the next 10 to 15 years.”
Of course, this is what NASA can do through taxpayer funding and nuclear investments, he added.
Musk’s grand ambitions are much more optimistic than most, and it is certainly a double-edged sword. This is not the first time timelines for Mars have been somewhat lofty, especially to those normal thinkers like you and me, not super geniuses like Musk.
In fact, the SpaceX and Tesla frontman has said on at least a dozen occasions that we could be on Mars in the coming years. Musk said 2020 would be the big year as early as 2009. In 2020, he was “highly confident” of a landing in 2026, and had even said 2024 in a best-case scenario.
The point is, the range has varied, and it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll get there. This latest adjustment to the timeline is typical of Musk, and while the Moon has seemingly taken priority over Mars, it is still worth mentioning that the ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary, and it starts potentially with the Red Planet.
SpaceX (NASDAQ: SPCX) got an absolutely crazy price target rating from Raymond James after the company experienced a tough first few weeks following its Initial Public Offering (IPO).
Despite the tumultuous start, SpaceX has plenty of believers, and the company’s massively successful Starship launch last Friday, its 13th test flight of the massive rocket, went so smoothly that Raymond James analysts pushed its price target on the company to roughly 7 times its current trading level.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
The firm officially put a “Strong Buy” rating and an $800 price target on the stock. It currently trades at around $113. Its all-time high is $225.64, reaching this trading level shortly after shares first went public.
Raymond James’ price target is tied to the firm’s confidence after Starship’s 13th test flight. Analysts at the firm said it was an incremental step that reduces engineering risks, citing the widely successful heat shield test that CEO Elon Musk recently detailed, the smooth deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, and a successful in-space engine relight.
SpaceX also managed to see Starship splash down safely in the Indian Ocean, while the Super Heavy Booster fell down to the Gulf of America with no incidents.
It is interesting to see these launches have such a tremendous impact on the stock and what investors think of it. After SpaceX initially delayed the Starship launch last week, shares fell tremendously. Most probably did not realize that the stand-down is a standard practice, especially if everything is not perfect.
The mission was initially aborted due to an issue with Raptor engines. This was resolved, and Starship launched last Friday after another delay on Thursday, which was caused by weather.
Now that analysts have seen what SpaceX launches are capable of and how impressive the feat is, firms are adjusting their price targets accordingly, making it known that they have high expectations for the space exploration company.
Elon Musk sheds two new bits of detail on Starship after 13th test launch
Elon Musk updates the SpaceX timeline for Mars
