First flight B1058 entered service on May 30, 2020 launching
Demo-2 from
LC-39A to the
International Space Station with astronauts
Bob Behnken and
Doug Hurley. It was the first crewed orbital spaceflight launched from the United States since the final
Space Shuttle mission, and the first crewed flight test of
Dragon 2. This was the first time US astronauts launched using a privately owned rocket and the first US crewed mission to the
ISS in 9 years. B1058 landed aboard the
autonomous spaceport drone ship Of Course I Still Love You approximately eight and a half minutes after launch. B1058 and
Dragon rolling out to the launch pad, bearing the
NASA "worm" logo Second flight On July 20, 2020, B1058 launched again with the
ANASIS-II payload, a military satellite for South Korea. This booster launched at
SLC-40 towards a
GTO orbit and landed successfully at the
Just Read the Instructions droneship. Both fairing halves were recovered for the first time, and B1058 set a new turnaround record which was just 51 days.
Third flight B1058 made its third flight from
LC-39A on October 6, 2020 carrying 60
Starlink satellites to
Low Earth orbit. This was B1058's first mission for Starlink. About eight minutes after launch, B1058 landed on
Of Course I Still Love You – completing its mission. Also, by completing this launch, B1058 had achieved the shortest time it had reached 3 flights, clocking in at 129 days, beating
B1046 by 77 days.
Fourth flight B1058 carried
SpaceX CRS-21 and the first cargo
Dragon 2 from
LC-39A to the
International Space Station. The old
SpaceX Dragon 1 needed the
Canadarm 2 to help
berth it to a US-derived module, but B1058 was flying the independent version of Dragon, which means that it could dock without the use of a robotic arm. B1058 completed a partial boost-back burn towards the
Of Course I Still Love You drone ship, 8 minutes after launch.
Fifth flight SpaceX announced that it would begin launching small satellites using its smallsat rideshare program,
Transporter. B1058 was the first to service this type of mission targeting a
altitude Sun-synchronous orbit. The launch deployed a record 143 satellites, consisting of 120
CubeSats, 11
microsatellites, 10
Starlinks, and 2 transfer stages. In addition, 2 hosted payloads and 1 non-separating dummy satellite were launched. By this launch, SpaceX broke the record held by India, which launched 104 satellites in 2017. These include
SpaceBEE (x 36),
Lemur-2 (x 8),
ICEYE (x 3), UVSQ-SAT,
ELaNa 35 (
PTD-1), and Kepler nanosats (x 8). D-Orbit
ION Satellite Carrier and 10
Starlink satellites made for testing optical laser inter-satellite links placed in a polar orbit and 2 of 15 payloads remained attached to
SHERPA-FX1.
Exolaunch deployed several small satellites and cubesats via their own deployment mechanisms. First flight of a Falcon 9 with a
SHERPA-FX transfer stage called SHERPA-FX1. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
OCISLY droneship.
Sixth flight B1058 launched the twentieth operational launch of Starlink satellites, again 60 in number, bringing the total to 1,265 (including prototypes) launched Starlink satellites. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
JRTI droneship.
Seventh flight B1058 launched the 23rd operational launch of Starlink satellites, bringing the total to 1,385 launched
Starlink satellites (including prototype). This launch featured the fastest for B1058 and second fastest overall booster turnaround time at 27 days and 8 hours (after Starlink 18 with B1060.5, which was 4 hours faster). B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
OCISLY droneship.
Eighth flight Rideshare launch with a targeted orbit at 569x582, significantly higher than typical Starlink launches, to allow for needs of the rideshare payloads. Fairing "wet recovery" done by contracted recovery vessel
Shelia Bordelon for the last time. B1058 launched from
LC-39A and landed successfully on the
OCISLY droneship.
Ninth flight First East Coast Starlink launch after the v1.0 L28 launch which completed the first shell of the Starlink network located at 540 km altitude. Fairing "wet recovery" was attempted by SpaceX multipurpose ship, Bob for the first time, and both fairing halves were retrieved from water. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
JRTI droneship.
Tenth flight B1058 launched the third dedicated SmallSat Rideshare mission to Sun-synchronous orbit. A total of 105 payloads including:
Planet Labs SuperDoves (×44), and some of the customer payloads on SpaceFlight's
SXRS-6 mission. In addition, four secret satellites, likely test satellites built by SpaceX based on the Starshield bus (based on Starlink Block v1.5 or v2.0 technology), were also deployed for the US army. Their purpose has not been revealed, but is likely either technical demonstration, communications, earth observation or signals intelligence. In 2020, SpaceX had won a US$149 million contract for developing and launching missile tracking satellites based on the Starlink architecture. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on
SpaceX Landing Zone 1.
Eleventh flight The eleventh mission of B1058 was the first Group 4 mission to feature 2 upper stage burns like v1.0 Starlink launches, with deployment of the 46 satellites approximately 1 hour after lift-off into a higher circular orbit. This is aimed at reducing the risk of high drag that caused
38 of the Group 4–7 satellites to fail reaching their intended orbits, and instead, reenter shortly after launch. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship.
Twelfth flight A regular East Coast Starlink network launch to a 540 km circular orbit at an inclination of 53.2°. B1058 launched from
LC-39A and landed successfully on the
ASOG droneship.
Thirteenth flight A regular East Coast Starlink network launch to a 540 km circular orbit at an inclination of 53.2°. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
JRTI droneship.
Fourteenth flight B1058 launched a regular East Coast Starlink network launch to a 540 km circular orbit at an inclination of 53.2°. Bluewalker-3 is a rideshare mission launched to 513 km altitude 53° inclination. In addition to this, the 2nd stage first executed two burns to deploy the Bluewalker 3, followed by executing two more burns to deploy the Starlinks to a 330 km altitude 53.2° inclination orbit, concluding with deorbit burn, which made it one of the most complex F9 missions up to date. On 11 September 2022, it flew for the 14th time and became the first booster to be recovered 14 times. B1058 launched from
LC-39A and landed successfully on the
ASOG droneship.
Fifteenth flight On another record breaking 15th flight for the first time for SpaceX, B1058 launched a regular East Coast Starlink network launch to a 540 km circular orbit at an inclination of 53.2°. B1058 launched from
LC-39A and landed successfully on the
JRTI droneship.
Certification for further flights Until then, Block 5 boosters were only certified for 15 launches. A "deep-dive" examination has been performed on B1058 and B1060 after their 15th flight, and SpaceX certified Falcon 9 boosters for 20 missions.
Sixteenth flight On 10 July 2023, B1058 launched a regular East Coast v2 mini Starlink launch to their Generation 2 network. B1058 was the first booster to launch and land 16 times, pushing the envelope and surpassing its previous record, which was 15 flights. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
JRTI droneship.
Seventeenth flight B1058 launched another East Coast v2 mini Starlink launch to their Generation 2 network. SpaceX set a new record using the same booster for the 17th time. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
ASOG droneship.
Eighteenth flight B1058 launched another East Coast v2 mini Starlink launch to their Generation 2 network. SpaceX set a new record using the same booster for the 18th time. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
ASOG droneship.
Nineteenth and final flight B1058 launched another East Coast v2 mini Starlink launch to their Generation 2 network. SpaceX set a new record using the same booster for the 19th time. It was the last flight of B1058. B1058 launched from
SLC-40 and landed successfully on the
JRTI droneship.
Demise Despite successfully landing after its nineteenth flight, B1058 tipped over during transit due to rough seas and high winds. SpaceX has already equipped newer Falcon boosters with upgraded landing legs that have the capability to self-level and mitigate this type of issue. This was the second instance of a booster toppling over during transit due to weather. The first time that this occurred was in April 2019, when
Falcon Heavy core booster
B1055 suffered the same fate. SpaceX intends on salvaging and inspecting the engines to learn about how they were affected by flying nineteen times, which may produce learnings for the rest of the Falcon 9 fleet. Doug Hurley suggested that the remnants of the booster (as well as the
Endeavour capsule, after its retirement) would be suitable for museum display as a historically significant artifact in the history of crewed spaceflight. == Launches ==