SpaceX Sends Largest Launch into Orbit

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By Harriet Sumnall | 1Q 2021 | IN-6062


Record Number of Satellites Onboard


Elon Musk has broken a record regarding how many satellites have been launched into space on a single rocket. SpaceX now boasts the record with the recent launch of 143 satellites on its Falcon 9 rocket, which was part of its rideshare mission, with a significant amount of the satellites on board not a part of the SpaceX Starlink constellation. Only 10 were for Musk’s Starlink constellation; others satellites were from Swarm Technologies, Kepler Communications, Spire, and NASA.

Ridesharing: A Helping Hand


The rideshare mission that SpaceX is operating will enable many other satellite vendors to operate their satellites without the huge cost of having their own rockets. It enables companies such as Kepler Communications to utilize other companies’ resources, which reduces the initial cost of launching their satellite constellations. The payloads onboard included a range of different satellite varieties including CubeSats and nanosatellites—two different models of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites for constel…

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