SpaceX just notched another impressive launch milestone.
A Falcon 9 rocket launched the Merah Putih 2 communications satellite from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 3:11 p.m. EST (2011 GMT), then deployed it into orbit 34.5 minutes later.
It was the 300th successful mission for the workhorse rocket, SpaceX noted this afternoon in a post on X.
Related: 8 ways that SpaceX has transformed spaceflight
It was the 17th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description. That’s two shy of the company’s reuse record, which it set in December 2023.
The rocket’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued powering its way skyward, eventually deploying Merah Putih 2 into geosynchronous transfer orbit on schedule.
Once it’s up and running, the 8,800-pound (4,000 kilograms) satellite will provide fast internet service for customers in Indonesia for the next 15 years or so. It will be operated by Telkomsat, a state-owned Indonesian telecom company.
RELATED STORIES:
— SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches Starlink satellites on record-breaking 19th mission
— SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites on 3rd leg of spaceflight tripleheader (video)
— SpaceX launches private Ax-3 mission to ISS, 1st Turkish astronaut on board
Today’s launch was the 16th for SpaceX already in 2024. Three of this year’s launches came in a 23-hour span over Feb. 14 and Feb. 15, when the company launched the classified USSF-124 mission for the U.S. Space Force, sent the private IM-1 moon-landing mission skyward and lofted a set of its own Starlink satellites.
And the launch cadence could ramp up as 2024 proceeds; SpaceX representatives have said that the company plans to launch 144 orbital missions this year.
The Falcon 9 debuted in June 2010.
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:30 pm ET on Feb. 20 with news of successful launch and rocket landing, then again at 3:48 pm ET with news of satellite deployment, and again at 5:40 pm ET to state that this was the 300th successful Falcon 9 launch to date.
