SpaceX just Broke Record with Triple Falcon Launches in 13 Hours! Game Over for Rivals…

3 launches in just 13 hours, that's an incredible pace. SpaceX pulled off 3 missions in rapid succession, with each launch bringing its own story. Let's break down all 3 missions, starting with the biggest highlights. And once we get through those, there's another major development to look at. NASA and Boeing are preparing to bring Starliner back to Earth, but before that happens, there are still some important issues to resolve. Let's get into all of it on today's episode. These past few days, most of our attention has been on Starship after it reached a major milestone. It represents the future of SpaceX. But before Starship takes over that role, the Falcon family is still doing the heavy lifting. And on October 1st, SpaceX showed just how far that system has come, 3 launches in just 13 hours. Even Musk highlighted the achievement on X with the message, 3 Falcons ready to fly simultaneously. And since we're talking about pushing limits, we're doing the same thing here at Great SpaceX, we're currently chasing 222,222 subscribers. There's still a lot of work to do, so if you haven't subscribed yet, your support would mean a lot. Now let's go through those 3 missions in chronological order. First up was NASA's 13th official Crew Dragon mission. Crew 13 launched at 11.10am Eastern on October 1st from SLC-40 aboard Falcon 9 and the Dragon Grace. This was Grace's second mission, following its Axiom 4 flight in June. On board were NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergei Tataryatnikov. The launch went smoothly, stage separation went smoothly, and the booster landed successfully. Then Dragon began its journey to the ISS. And that's where Crew 13 set another record. At 7.05pm Eastern, Dragon reached the station and docked with the ISS just 7 hours and 55 minutes after liftoff. That broke Dragon's previous US launch to docking record of 12 hours and 33 minutes set during CRS-31 in November of 2024. For a crewed Dragon mission, the previous record was 14 hours and 43 minutes set by Crew 11 back in August of 2025. So Crew 13 became the fastest US spacecraft to travel from Earth to the ISS. It still wasn't the fastest ISS trip overall. That record belongs to Russia's Soyuz, which reached the station in just 3 hours and 3 minutes in May of 2020. The difference isn't simply rocket power. Soyuz used a more direct flight profile, while Dragon follows a different rendezvous trajectory. Even so, Crew 13 demonstrated just how quickly Dragon can now move astronauts from Earth to the station. And Dragon's role isn't going away anytime soon. After the current contract's Crew 14 mission, NASA awarded SpaceX more than $900 million US dollars for three additional crewed Dragon missions. I'll come back to Starliner's situation later. For now, let's move on to the second Falcon launch. Transporter 18 This was a very different kind of mission. Transporter 18 was a rideshare launch allowing dozens of customers to share the same Falcon 9 instead of purchasing an entire rocket for themselves. That spreads the launch cost across multiple payloads and gives smaller organizations a practical path to orbit. The mission launched from SLC-4E in California at 2.32pm Eastern on October 1st. Stage separation, booster landing, and payload deployment all went according to plan. And this time, Falcon 9 carried 130 payloads. Among them were a Pathfinder spacecraft for Google's Project Suncatcher, a planned constellation of AI satellites in low-Earth orbit. Cowboy Space's Reason-1 satellite, constellation of AI satellites in low-Earth orbit, Cowboy Space's Reason-1 satellite, and Starfish Space's Otter servicing spacecraft. Transporter 18 didn't break the rideshare record. That still belongs to Transporter 1 which carried 143 payloads in 2021. But 130 payloads on one launch still shows how much the rideshare model has matured. SpaceX isn't just launching its own missions, it's providing access to orbit for dozens of other organizations on the same rocket. And then we get to the third launch, the biggest rocket of the three, Falcon Heavy. The Falcon Heavy launched at 11.53pm Eastern on the 1st of October from LC-39A. The mission was designated NROL-97 and carried a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. Because the payload's details aren't public, the rocket itself becomes the main story. The two side boosters separated as planned, the mission continued successfully, and both side boosters returned to Earth for landing. That marked Falcon Heavy's 14th mission since 2018. Interestingly, that's now the same number of launches as Starship. It was also Falcon Heavy's third mission of 2026 following the Viasat-3 mission in April and the Nancy Grace Roman mission in August. After a relatively quiet 2025, Falcon Heavy is once again becoming an active part of SpaceX's launch lineup. And there could be even more missions ahead, including the possibility of launching the Griffin-1 lunar mission. So three missions, three different purposes, and all within roughly 13 hours. So if you think three Falcon launches in 13 hours was impressive, comment XXX down below. Because if Falcon can operate at this pace today, the really interesting question is what happens when Starship reaches the same level of operational maturity? Let's wait and see. Now let's talk about Starliner, the spacecraft I mentioned during Crew 13. On August 29th, NASA and Boeing announced an updated roadmap for the program, and there's one date that immediately stands out. 2028. That's the current target for Starliner's next crewed mission. Before that happens, NASA and Boeing plan to launch an uncrewed test flight to the ISS this year, assuming everything stays on schedule. Then came Crew Flight Test, or CFT. Launched in June of 2024, CFT was Starliner's first crewed flight, carrying NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the ISS for what was supposed to be a 10-day mission. Shortly after launch, though, more problems appeared. Starliner experienced helium leaks, and five of its 28 reaction control system thrusters failed. The spacecraft still managed to reach the ISS safely, but NASA ultimately decided that sending Williams and Wilmore back to Earth aboard Starliner carried too much risk. Starliner returned to Earth uncrewed in September of 2024. Williams and Wilmore remained aboard the ISS for roughly six months longer than originally planned before returning aboard a SpaceX crewed Dragon the following March. And Starliner has remained grounded ever since. Meanwhile, Dragon has continued flying NASA astronauts. NASA awarded commercial crew contracts to both Boeing and SpaceX back in 2014, specifically to establish more than one U.S. crew transportation system. SpaceX completed its own crewed Dragon test flight in 2020, and with Crew 13, Dragon is now continuing its operational astronaut missions for NASA. NASA has repeatedly emphasized that maintaining two independent commercial crew systems is important. That's why the agency remains invested in Starliner's return, even after NASA classified the CFT problems as a Type A mishap in February. So what has actually changed? According to NASA officials, Boeing and NASA have been working through the problems identified during CFT. Take the helium leaks. Engineers traced those problems to valve issues, specifically degradation that occurred after exposure to nitrogen tetroxide, the oxidizer used by Starliner's propulsion system. And Starliner 1 is important because it's the next major test. It's the upcoming uncrewed flight to the ISS, currently targeted for December or January. Then comes Starliner 2, the next crewed mission, currently planned for 2028, with NASA and Boeing officials indicating that it could launch around the middle of that year. The propulsion problems from CFT have also been investigated. NASA and Boeing identified multiple contributing factors, including the thermal environment and design features affecting the service module thrusters. They're now implementing several changes, including redesigned thruster valves, new crew module thrusters, and measures to prevent corrosion. And we already know who will command the next crewed flight. NASA announced that veteran astronaut Woody Holberg will command Starliner 2. Holberg has also expressed confidence in the spacecraft and the teams preparing it for the mission. He said, I've flown a lot of types of aircraft. And let me tell you, Starliner is a pilot's spacecraft. He also pointed to Starliner's manual control capabilities and the role they played during CFT, saying they were critical to achieving a safe docking despite the thruster failures. There's another complication as well. Boeing's current commercial crew contract runs through Starliner 1. Contract runs through Starliner 6. Starliner 1 through 4 are scheduled to launch on ULA's Atlas V, just like OFT, OFT-2, and CFT. But Atlas V is now out of production and approaching retirement, so Starliner 5 and 6 will need a different ride, ULA's Vulcan Centaur. And Vulcan still needs to be certified for crewed launches, so there's another certification process waiting further down the road. NASA will also be contributing to that effort, and this comes as NASA expands its commitment to SpaceX as well. The agency recently awarded SpaceX $946 million for three additional ISS crew missions. Crew 15, 16, and 17 are all expected to launch by 2030. So where does that leave Starliner? The spacecraft now has a defined path back to crewed operations, but there's still a lot to prove. After years of delays, redesigns, and testing, 2028 could be the year we finally see whether Starliner is ready for that role. Let's see what Boeing and NASA can do next. Thanks for watching today's episode. Don't forget to subscribe so you won't miss out on a bunch of updates that's soon to follow. Otherwise folks, I'll see you in the next one.