Say Goodbye to SpaceX’s Record-Breaking Booster

Last Saturday, SpaceX made history again, flying and landing booster B1058 for a record-breaking 19th time.

SpaceX booster B1058 landed on the droneship Just Read the Instructions shortly after midnight as part of another successful satellite deployment on the Starlink Group 6-32 mission.

While the mission was a success, the fabled booster met its end while being towed back to Port Canaveral aboard the droneship Just Read The Instructions. While underway back to Port Canaveral, JRTI encountered high winds and waves, resulting in the vertically-landed booster swaying and eventually tipping over and breaking into pieces. The top portion fell into the Atlantic and was lost. The lower third of the booster, which contains the rocket’s nine engines and landing gear, was heavily damaged. Multiple local photographers captured the remains of the booster as it was towed into Port Canaveral on Tuesday.

As one of the oldest boosters in Space X’s fleet, B1058 did not benefit from the advanced self-leveling system found on newer boosters, an upgrade that could have prevented this tragic loss.

Booster B1058 accumulated quite a historical manifest during it’s 3.5-year lifespan.  The booster launched over 860 satellites, totaling over 260 metric tons to space.  Perhaps the most significant achievement was the booster’s first flight, a successful Demo-2 flight that sent NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the ISS. This was the first crewed orbital mission by a private company in US history.  This success was the final test for the Dragon capsule and would pave the way for a SpaceX contract with NASA to send astronauts to the ISS on rotation. 

Prior to the loss of B1058, the last recovery failure of a Falcon 9 was on February 16, 2021. Booster B1059 failed to land of the droneship after a Merlin engine failed to re-ignite during the landing burn. The engine had experienced technical issues during ascent, leading to the failure. To date, SpaceX has recovered slightly under 300 of their rockets.  

SpaceX is analyzing what is left of arguably its most successful booster thus far. Fans hope the remnants are going to be put on display at some point.