Elon Musk‘s rocket manufacturing company SpaceX on Friday completed its 375th launch mission to date with the launch of 116 spacecraft from California.
What Happened: The company’s Falcon 9 rocket launched Transporter 11 mission, SpaceX’s 11th dedicated smallsat rideshare program mission, on Friday at 11:56 a.m. PT. The mission carried 116 spacecraft to orbit ranging from Earth observation satellites to in-space manufacturing, robotics, student research projects, tech demos for human spaceflight, and more, the company said.
“Falcon 9 launches 116 spacecraft to orbit, completing our 375th mission!,” SpaceX announced on X, while also sharing several pictures from the milestone launch.
SpaceX has launched over 1,000 small satellites for over 130 customers across its rideshare program to date, the company added.
Why It Matters: SpaceX, founded in 2002, attempted its first launch in 2006 which failed. The first successful launch came in the second half of 2008 after two more failed attempts. Since then, the company has rapidly scaled its launch capabilities.
For the entirety of 2023, SpaceX completed 96 launches, marking a 57% year-on-year increase, not including two Starship test flights. The company’s launch numbers have been steadily increasing, with 26 launches in 2020, 31 in 2021, and 61 in 2022.
In the first half of 2024 alone, SpaceX completed 67 missions. The company is looking to launch 144 times in 2024, averaging twelve times per month.
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Photo courtesy: SpaceX
