In less than 48 hours, SpaceX accomplished the incredible feat of conducting four launches in three states. This has huge implications for the future of space exploration.
The first launch took place on Sunday, when a giant Starship rocket lifted off from the southern tip of Texas. Remarkably, the first stage booster flew back to the launch pad, where the tower’s metal arm caught the descending 232-foot booster.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called it “a major step toward multiplanetary life.”
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The spacecraft continued to travel around the world, climbing more than 130 miles into the air and eventually landing in the Indian Ocean, adding to SpaceX’s accomplishments.
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket lifts off Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying a NASA spacecraft bound for Jupiter. (AP Photo/John Rau)
Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, with 33 methane-fueled engines in its boosters alone.
The next day, a NASA spacecraft lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and headed for Jupiter and its moon Europa.
Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust to determine whether conditions there can support life.


A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket carrying a NASA spacecraft launches toward Jupiter, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, at Kennedy Space Center. (AP Photo/John Rau)
And early Tuesday, SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets, one from Florida and one from California, sending dozens of Starlink satellites into orbit.
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The first launch from Cape Canaveral was SpaceX’s 100th launch of the year, with 2.5 months left until 2024.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.