B1063

At a Glance

Booster B1063 is a Falcon 9 Block 5 first stage built by SpaceX and currently active in the company's fleet. Since its debut on November 21, 2020, this single booster has launched 32 times and landed successfully after every flight. That perfect record places it among the most reliable individual rocket stages ever flown, and it continues to fly regular missions as of April 2026.

The Block 5 design represents SpaceX's fully reusable configuration, capable of flying ten times with minimal refurbishment and up to 100 times with periodic overhauls. B1063 has exceeded the original ten-flight target by more than threefold, validating the economic model that underpins SpaceX's dominance in the commercial launch market. While most of its career has been focused on missions from Florida, it has made at least one appearance at Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Central Coast.

The Career of B1063

B1063's career began with high-profile science missions. It launched the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich ocean-monitoring satellite and later the Double Asteroid Redirection Test, known as DART, which in 2022 became the first mission to intentionally collide with an asteroid to test planetary defense techniques. Those early assignments demonstrated SpaceX's confidence in the booster's reliability for missions that could not afford a failure.

The booster's Vandenberg chapter opened on April 11, 2026, when it lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E carrying Starlink Group 17-21. By that point, B1063 had already completed 31 prior flights, all of them successful. The mission marked the booster's 32nd launch and its first departure from the California coast, adding a Pacific trajectory to a resume built mostly on Atlantic and equatorial orbits.

Between its first and most recent flights, B1063 established a rhythm common to SpaceX's most prolific boosters: rapid turnaround, minimal downtime, and assignment to a mix of internal Starlink missions and third-party payloads. The booster's longevity reflects advances in heat-shield materials, engine refurbishment processes, and flight software that have turned what was once experimental into routine industrial practice.

Vandenberg Missions

On April 11, 2026, B1063 launched Starlink Group 17-21 from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg, placing another batch of broadband satellites into polar orbit. The mission was declared a success, and the booster returned to land on the droneship stationed in the Pacific.

Landings and Recovery

B1063 has attempted 32 landings and succeeded in all 32, a flawless recovery record that remains the ultimate measure of a booster's operational value. Most Vandenberg missions send their first stages downrange to land on the autonomous droneship Of Course I Still Love You, positioned several hundred miles off the California coast in the Pacific. The droneship provides a stable floating platform for boosters that lack the fuel margin to reverse course and return to the launch site.

A small number of Vandenberg flights do perform return-to-launch-site landings at Landing Zone 4, the concrete pad adjacent to SLC-4E. When a booster returns to LZ-4, it produces a double sonic boom audible across Lompoc, often startling residents in Vandenberg Village and reaching north to Santa Maria. The sound arrives several minutes after the rocket disappears from view, a reminder that reusable spaceflight is as much an acoustic phenomenon as a visual one. B1063's single Vandenberg flight to date used the droneship option, so no sonic boom accompanied its California debut.

Still in the Game

As of its most recent flight in April 2026, B1063 remains active and available for assignment. With 32 flights already logged, it has far exceeded the original design target and shows no signs of forced retirement. SpaceX now operates boosters into their fourth and fifth dozen flights, and B1063 sits comfortably in the middle of that pack. Whether it returns to Vandenberg or continues its work from Florida, this booster has already earned a place in the small club of hardware that helped make rocket reuse normal.