Proof Again, SpaceX Succeeds Wildly When They're Allowed To

This afternoon's successful Starlink launch marked a successful close to a busy month, and to the start of a busy year.  This was the 6th launch in April and the 17th launch of the year in the 17th week of the year.  To make it more impressive, the booster, B1062, beat SpaceX's previous turnaround record time by over 20%.  

The existing record was also held by Falcon 9 and set in early 2021 when booster B1060 launched a Turkish communications satellite and a batch of Starlink spacecraft just 27 days and 4 hours apart. Now, just under 15 months later, a new Falcon 9 booster has decisively taken the crown.
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Just 21 days and 6 hours prior, booster B1062 completed an almost identical launch with an identical payload of 53 Starlink satellites, smashing Falcon 9’s existing 27-day record by almost 25%. As is the case with SpaceX’s two 27-day turnaround records, the new 21-day record is made even more impressive by the fact that it took four and a half days just to tow B0162 almost 700 kilometers (~430 miles) back to port before it could begin preparing for Starlink 4-16. In theory, that means that SpaceX could have likely turned B1062 around in just 16.5 days if the booster had been able to land back at Cape Canaveral after Starlink 4-14.

According to my arithmetic, the difference there between 27 days 4 hours and 21 days 6 hours (carry the 24) is 5 days 22 hours.  As a fraction of the longer time, that's 21.8%.  That's total time from one mission to the next.  

Here's the real mind-blower: SpaceX says the actual time to refurbish B1062 was nine days.  

It's difficult to compare the reuse times to Space Shuttles because the vehicles are so very different.  The Shuttle was enormously more complex and while Falcon 9s beat the shuttle records long ago, I consider it to be like the cliche of comparing apples and oranges; comparing two completely different things.  Furthermore, we really have no other reusable, orbital class vehicles in the world to compare it to.  Eric Ralph at Teslarati notes, though, 

Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster may be a better comparison in some regards but it’s almost an order of magnitude lighter and smaller and is part of a strictly suborbital launch vehicle. Six and a half years after its first successful landing, New Shepard’s booster turnaround record is 59 days.

Today's launch. Photo credit: Richard Angle for Teslrati.

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For the last couple of days, I had been getting the feeling that the FAA must be ready to release their Environmental Assessment (EA) for SpaceX Boca Chica.  I was thinking that because it was due today and the previous times they rescheduled it were earlier than on the last day.  So I spent some hours with one browser tab open to one of the Lab Padre cameras expecting word to break there early on.  Nothing yesterday.  Started again today before leaving for the afternoon, and still nothing.  I checked the FAA website, too, and still nothing through this morning.

Finally this evening, after that launch, when I checked in on those sites everyone was saying the release was postponed again.  Target date 5/31/22.  Considering the original schedule, they're now approaching 50% schedule slip.  They have years to go before they're as bad as all of the SLS program's schedule slips, but don't encourage them. 

Left to their own, SpaceX still probably wouldn't be flying Starships, but I'm 100% sure they'll do better without the FAA. 

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Finally, my afternoon trip today was to meet fellow blogger (and one of my inspirations to start blogging) Borepatch.  Borepatch, lovely wife QoTW, and faithful hound Wolfgang all came over to the East Coast, Titusville, from their home over on the West side of the state to watch the launch.  Titusville is directly west of the Vehicle Assembly Building, and around as close as anyone without a proper pass can get to see a launch.  Mrs. Graybeard and I drove up to where they were staying to say hi in person and get to visit for a while.  It was a very enjoyable couple of hours getting to know each other in person and a break from our regular routines.