On Wednesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried 88 satellites into orbit, marking the company’s second dedicated rideshare mission. The Falcon 9 rocket took off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The satellites were from a range of government and commercial customers.
After takeoff, the first-stage rocket booster came back to land upright on a ground pad to be reused for future missions. This technology is considered key in making spaceflight and travel cheaper. The booster used on Wednesday had been used on seven other launches. The rideshare missions serve as a way for SpaceX to provide for the demand for getting small satellites into orbit. To do so, the rocket’s cargo bay is stuffed with batches of small satellites from a variety of customers and releases many small satellites into orbit in one trip.
Read more: SpaceX launches 88 satellites in rideshare mission
