SpaceX pulls off historic achievement, launching four rockets in less than 40 hours

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In less than 48 hours, SpaceX pulled off a stunning feat, conducting four launches in three states, with huge implications for the future of space exploration.

The first launch came on Sunday, with the enormous Starship rocket blasting off from the southern tip of Texas. Remarkably, the first-stage booster flew back to the launch pad, where the tower’s metal arms caught the descending 232-foot booster. 

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called it a "Big step towards making life multiplanetary." 

SPACEX LAUNCHES MISSION TO SPACE STATION THAT WILL BRING BACK STRANDED NASA ASTRONAUTS NEXT YEAR

The spacecraft continued its journey around the world, soaring more than 130 miles high before eventually landing in the Indian Ocean, piling on SpaceX’s achievements. 

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with a NASA spacecraft bound for Jupiter lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, with 33 methane-fuel engines on the booster alone. 

The next day, a NASA spacecraft lifted off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for Jupiter and its moon Europa.  

The Europa Clipper will peer beneath the moon’s icy crust to determine whether conditions there could support life. 

A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket with a NASA spacecraft bound for Jupiter lifts off at the Kennedy Space Center on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

Then on early Tuesday, SpaceX launched two Falcon 9 rockets – one from Florida and another in California – sending dozens of Starlink satellites into orbit. 

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The first launch, from Cape Canaveral, marked SpaceX’s 100th launch of the year, with still two-and-a-half months left in 2024. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.