Jan. 29 (UPI) — SpaceX on Wednesday night launched a Spanish communications satellite from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and retired the first-stage booster rather than landing on a droneship. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:34 p.m. EST from pad 39A. The first-stage cutoff was at 2:40 and the satellite deployed at 31:24 and was to be 2,236 miles above Earth, according to Space.com.
Because the SpainSat satellite needed to be lifted into a higher than other satellites, the first-stage booster didn’t return to Earth intact.
“Due to the additional performance required to deliver the payload to geosynchronous transfer orbit, this mission marks the 21st and final launch for this Falcon 9 first stage booster,” SpaceX posted on X.
This booster, with its nine Merlin engines, has launched a lunar lander to the moon, critical supplies and research to the International Space Station and 400-plus Starlink satellites into orbit since its first launch in May 2022.
The booster is 135 feet tall with a 12-foot diameter and weighs 955,000 pounds.
It lacked grid fins for recovery steering and stability as well as landing legs.
SpaceX has two landing sites: A Shortfall of Gravitas and Just Read the Instructions. They modified are ocean-going barges equipped with propulsion.
SpaceX has successfully landed Falcon 9 first-stage boosters 386 times since 2013.
There are 17 boosters in its lineup that have flown before.
The satellite is supported by the European Space Agency and manufactured by Airbus Defense and Space.
The launch was SpaceX’s 13th so far this year.
The next scheduled flight is scheduled for 3:32 p.m. PST Wednesday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Falcon 9 will launch Starlink satellites.
SpaceX hasn’t announced the next launch from Florida.