Charted: How SpaceX broke the world record for rocket launches

SpaceX has broken its own record for the number of orbital rocket launches in a single year.
The launch from Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida of a Falcon 9 rocket this week passed the previous milestone of 96 launches set in 2023.
The latest lift off also equalled the record for the most number of launches for a single rocket, with the reusable first stage booster performing its 23rd and final flight. The launch delivered the European Space Agency’s Hera planetary defence mission to interplanetary transfer orbit.
SpaceX’s launch schedule was recently disrupted after it was forced to ground both its Falcon 9 and Starship rockets. A mission lifting off from Cape Canaveral in September, which equalled the firm’s record for number of rocket launches in a year, encountered a problem when returning to Earth.
There were no injuries or property damage, though the rocket landed outside of the designated hazard area set out by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
SpaceX decided to pause launches of its Falcon 9 rocket – which have performed more than 90 per cent of all orbital launches this year – until it better understood the cause of the “off-nominal deorbit burn”. The FAA confirmed that it was awaiting the results of the investigation before space flights can resume.
When flights resumed, SpaceX successfully launched its Hera mission without any complications.
The US regulator has also postponed the next orbital flight test of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, despite Elon Musk claiming that the world’s biggest rocket has been ready to launch since August.
The SpaceX boss accused the FAA of “regulatory overreach”, however a spokesperson for the regulator responded to the criticism by claiming that SpaceX changed the profile of the next Starship mission to include new variables that require new safety and environmental reviews.
“SpaceX chose to modify both for its proposed Starship Flight 5 launch which triggered a more in-depth review,” a spokesperson for the FAA told The Independent. “In addition, SpaceX submitted new information in mid-August detailing how the environmental impact of Flight 5 will cover a larger area than previously reviewed.”
One of the updated mission objectives requiring review is an attempt to catch a Super Heavy booster with a “chopsticks” system built into the same launchpad that the rocket will lift off from. The FAA said a conclusion to its review would not be completed until late November at the earliest.
SpaceX claims on its website that the Starship flight test could take place as soon as 13 October, “pending regulatory approval”.