SpaceX lands the Falcon 9 launch vehicle for the 23rd time as part of the Koreasat-6A mission – Spaceflight Now

Update 11:19 a.m. EST: SpaceX has adjusted the T-0 launch time.

Update 1:03 p.m. EST: SpaceX confirms deployment of Koreasat-6A.

SpaceX launched the latest communications satellite for KT SAT Corporation Ltd., a satellite service provider in South Korea, at midday on Monday. The Falcon 9 rocket was the first of a double launch day.

Launch of the Koreasat-6A mission occurred at 12:22 p.m. EST (1722 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A Starlink delivery mission postponed to Sunday is scheduled to launch four hours later from Pad 40 on the neighboring Cape Canaveral space station.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster for this mission, tail number B1067 in the SpaceX fleet, was launched for the 23rd time. Previously, it supported the launch of two astronaut missions to the International Space Station (Crew-3 and Crew-4), two cargo flights to the ISS (CRS-22 and CRS-25), and twelve Starlink missions.

Just over eight minutes after liftoff, B1067 landed in Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The successful landing marked the 47th booster recovery at LZ-1 and the 365th booster landing to date.

Notably, this was also the first launch vehicle landing for the 23rd time. The other two launchers B1061 and B1062, which were launched for the 23rd time, were taken out of service.

B1061 was intentionally issued to the European Space Agency after the launch of the Hera spacecraft on October 7, 2024. B1062 was lost when it failed to land safely on the SpaceX drone ship “A Shortfall of Gravitas” after the launch of the Starlink 8-6 mission on August 28, 2024.

Monday’s planned launch of the geostationary satellite Koreasat-6A on board is intended to replace its predecessor Koreasat-6, which is located at the 116 degree east position for KT SAT. The former satellite was launched by Arianespace in December 2010 and operates as a Ku-band satellite.

Koreasat-6A, manufactured by Thales Alenia Space, is based on the company’s Spacebus 4000B2 platform and includes six Broadcast Satellite Service (BSS) transponders and 20 Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) transponders. The 3.5-ton satellite is designed to operate for 15 years.