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SpaceX pushed one of its most used boosters to its limits with a launch Tuesday evening from Cape Canaveral.

A Falcon 9 rocket using a booster for the 22nd time managed a successful recovery landing even though it was used to fly its payload, a pair of the European Commission’s Galileo L13 satellites, to a medium-Earth orbit. The last time SpaceX flew such a mission, it didn’t even try to recover the booster because it required more propellant than a low-Earth orbit mission.

Liftoff came at 6:50 p.m. from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 and the booster stuck the landing on the droneship Just Read the Instructions a little more than eight minutes later.

Liftoff! pic.twitter.com/yG7YajyF2k

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 17, 2024

SpaceX had to expend a booster, meaning let it fall back into the Atlantic, for the Galileo L12 mission back in April so SpaceX could provide the performance needed to get the payload to orbit.

“Data from that mission informed subtle design and operational changes, including mass reductions and trajectory adjustments, that will allow us to safely recover and reuse this booster,” SpaceX posted on its website ahead of the new mission. read more

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday it is seeking more than $600,000 in fines against SpaceX for violating licenses from its Space Coast launch sites.

In a press release, the FAA detailed its proposed civil penalties for a June 18, 2023 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 and a July 28, 2023 launch from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A.

The combined fine of $633,009 is for what the FAA alleges to be SpaceX’s failure to follow its license requirements for those two launches, according to the release. The fines follow civil penalty guidelines that are set in federal statutes, the FAA stated.

“Safety drives everything we do at the FAA, including a legal responsibility for the safety oversight of companies with commercial space transportation licenses,” FAA Chief Counsel Marc Nichols said in the release. “Failure of a company to comply with the safety requirements will result in consequences.”

For the Canaveral launch, the FAA said that in May 2023, SpaceX had submitted a request to revise its communication plan to its existing license that wanted to add a new launch control room at Hangar X and remove a T-2 hour readiness poll from its procedures. read more