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Message: [QUOTE="Munyaradzi Mafaro, post: 51573, member: 636"] SpaceX rocket jockeys blasted off their Falcon 9 for a record-breaking 500th time from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 1:04 am liftoff carried Israel's Dror 1 communications satellite into the heavens above Florida. Fifteen Israeli Aerospace Industries scientists watched their baby ride the rocket into space. The same booster has already completed a dozen previous missions including NASA crew flights and Starlink deployments. Workers celebrated as the veteran rocket chalked up another successful mission. The Dror 1 satellite will circle Earth every 30 hours while stationed 36,000 miles above the planet. Israeli engineers designed the spacecraft to operate for 15 years providing communication services. The Falcon 9 booster previously hauled NASA astronauts on Crew-8 and the daredevil Polaris Dawn mission. Seven Starlink internet satellite deployments and cargo runs to the space station filled out its flight resume. The workhorse rocket landed safely on a floating platform in the Atlantic Ocean after completing its 13th journey. Falcon 9 debuted on June 4, 2010 carrying a fake Dragon capsule to prove the rocket could handle real missions. The vehicle broke apart during its maiden voyage but successfully delivered the test payload to orbit. SpaceX engineers perfected propulsive landing technology by 2014 when the first booster touched down intact. The reusable rocket became the backbone of global space launches while building the largest satellite network ever assembled. More than 7,000 Starlink satellites currently beam internet service worldwide thanks to Falcon 9 reliability. [/QUOTE]

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