This SpaceX headline snuck by me

The headline snuck by me. I mean, yeah, "it's just another Falcon 9 launch"- except it wasn't. It was a milestone launch, the 700th successful flight of a Falcon 9. Friday night, October 30th or "Halloween Eve" at 9:04 PM.PDT (12:04 AM. EDT / 0404 UTC). 

The Starlink 15-18 mission on the eve of Halloween will add another 27 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation.

SpaceX launched the mission using the Falcon 9 first stage booster with the tail number 1093. This was its 18th flight following the launches of Transporter-16, two missions for the Space Development Agency, and 14 batches of Starlink satellites.

Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1093 landed on the droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, positioned in the Pacific Ocean. This was the 231st landing on this vessel and the 675th Falcon booster landing to date.

While the article linked on Spaceflight Now doesn't mention it, 700 launches is still pretty far off the record for the most launches of a launch vehicle. While slightly out of date, SpaceStats shows the old Russian Soyuz-U is the all time leader at 765 launches. The Soyuz-U is retired, though, having last flown in 2017. Falcon 9 is still flying although its rate of launches per year is down, and it's expected to keep flying through the "early 2030s". With only 66 launches left to take the top rank, it's likely to happen. Today's launch was the 108th of this year for the workhorse rocket. 

The Starlink 15-18 mission lifts off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Oct. 30, 2026, local time. Image: SpaceX.

Lessee.... this is the 108th launch and it's the 45th week of the year, so that's 2.4 week. At that rate, adding another 66 launches should take 27-1/2 weeks - call it 28 weeks. That says 28 weeks minus the 7 weeks of 2026, so 21 weeks into 2027, which sounds like by the middle of next May Falcon 9 will have the record for the rocket with the most launches. There's a mess of numbers that can change in there, but it's a rough number to keep a look on. 

Pardon me. I just realized that there's only seven weeks left in the year! Thanksgiving!! Christmas!!!