The 26th and final SpaceX mission of the year went as well as possible, with Mr Musk’s firm delivering yet another satellite into orbit. The mission had been scheduled for Thursday, December 17, but was postponed for two days due to adverse weather conditions.
However, the sun was shining brightly on December 19 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, allowing for a smooth lift-off.
The mission was titled NROL-108, with the Falcon 9 rocket carrying a confidential satellite into orbit.
Shortly after lift off, the booster on board of the rocket separated once it reached near orbit, with the satellite now continuing on to its destination.
However, the Falcon 9 descended back to Earth, with an ultra-smooth landing seen back at a pad in Florida.
One person wrote on Twitter: “Falcon lands, crowds cheer, SpaceX launches their final mission of the year.”
Another added: “Perfect Falcon 9 landing never gets old.”
One SpaceX fan tweeted: “Congratulations on a record setting 2020!
“25 orbital launches, including two crewed ones, and 4 suborbital hops / flights!
“It makes me so happy to see SpaceX pass more and more historic milestones from year to year.”
This specific Falcon 9 rocket has already supported previous missions.
SpaceX said on its website: “Falcon 9’s first stage booster previously supported launch of SpaceX’s 19th and 20th cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station, a Starlink mission, and the SAOCOM 1B mission.”
The mission also marks the 70th successful landing, with the first happening almost five years ago to the day – on Monday December 23.
With 26 launches this year, it is difficult to see how much more ambitious SpaceX can be.
However, by 2023, Mr Musk and co are hoping to launch at least 70 rockets a year.
Missions will include launching the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, including upping the ante in getting 12,000 Starlink satellites into Earth’s orbit.
A draft environmental assessment published by the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation read: “This launch schedule is based on SpaceX’s anticipated need to support NASA and DoD [Department of Defense] missions, as well as commercial customers.
“In addition to its typical launch trajectories, SpaceX is proposing … to include a new Falcon 9 southern launch trajectory to support missions with payloads requiring polar orbits.
“SpaceX estimates approximately 10 percent of its annual Falcon 9 launches would fly this new southern launch trajectory.”
