Another SpaceX record set Sunday

It's a reality that every single Falcon 9 mission sets a record for SpaceX so we can't make a big deal over every launch or landing, we just note them as they go by, reserving the hoopla for Big Round Numbers. They are so far ahead of every other launch company in the world that there isn't a snowball's chance in the Florida Keys that anybody will be doing these things for years.  So let's just put up the numbers.

The big round number in this case is the middle one: 600 Falcon 9 landings in 640 completed missions. Of those 640, 562 were reflights of already flown boosters. Gee, 600 landings is first place in booster reuse, but who's in second place and how many have they flown? Is there anyone on Earth with more than even 10 landings? (Yes, I'm ignoring the Space Shuttles because they no longer fly, but maybe I should count them, too?) 

Launch 600 and completed mission 640 were Sunday morning, April 19, from Vandenberg Space Force Base, at 9:03 AM PDT, 1603 UTC and 12:03 PM here on EDT. It was batch 17-22 of 25 Starlink satellites, and about 8 minutes after liftoff, booster B1097 landed on OCISLY (Of Course I Still Love You), the only recovery drone ship working out of Vandenberg. B1097 is practically new, this being its 8th mission and earning B1097-8. The overall fleet leader is B1067-34 which flew mission 34 on March 30. 

Falcon 9 B1097-7 and its disposable upper stage lift off carrying 25 Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in southern California on Sunday, April 19, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)

And by the time you see this, those numbers may have changed. Mission 641 and landing 601 are scheduled for early Tuesday morning, 2:53 AM EDT, 0653 UTC from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The launch window is open until 3:08 AM EDT - 15 minutes. Current forecast is 90% Go For Launch.