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SpaceX has already made spaceflight shorty many times, just it's skipping today's record-setting launch. The company had been scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket conveying 64 small satellites into orbit (known as SSO-A), but that wasn't the historic part. It would have been the third launch for this detail rocket, a feat never before attempted. In the end, SpaceX decided information technology needed more than time to prepare.

SpaceX has had the ability to launch and country the Falcon ix's first stage for several years, but it didn't commencement re-flying them right away. In fact, SpaceX decided to keep the get-go successfully recovered rocket as a bays. Information technology's not only SpaceX existence prideful, though. Elon Musk'south spaceflight business firm likewise needed to do extensive engineering checks on the kickoff recovered vehicles to brand sure they were fit to fly again.

Today, reusing Falcon 9 first stages for a 2d launch is commonplace. It reused one of its rockets for the first time in 2022 , just the SSO-A launch would have been the first time one of those boosters went upward for the third time. This is essential to SpaceX's plans to slash the toll of reaching orbit. With expendable rockets, you need to manufacture a new 1 for every launch. SpaceX has perfected two flights per rocket, but costs will become down much more than if information technology can keep flying the vehicles indefinitely.

The booster that was supposed to go upward today launched offset in May of this year to deposit the Bangabandhu-1 communications satellite in orbit. Just a few months later in August, SpaceX used the aforementioned first phase to go the Indonesian Merah Putih satellite telecom satellite to space.

SpaceX didn't provide a full explanation of its decision to cancel the SSO-A launch. On Twitter, the company said the delay would allow "additional pre-flight inspections." There may be concerns that two launches have deleterious effects on the rockets that are difficult to detect. The last thing SpaceX wants information technology to see its beginning three-apply rocket go up in flames. The tweet goes on to say that we'll go a revised launch date when the checks are completed.

While the Falcon ix is SpaceX's current coin maker, it intends to motility all launch operations to the BFR (Large Falcon Rocket) in the future. This reusable rocket is larger and more expensive to manufacture, so SpaceX definitely wants to use each i more than twice.

Now read: SpaceX Launches Previously Flown Falcon 9 and Dragon Sheathing, SpaceX Successfully Launches, Lands Second Reused Rocket, and SpaceX will attempt to land a Falcon 9 rocket on an ocean platform (Updated)