SpaceX has made quite a name for itself since its inception, thanks to the reusable nature of its rocket boosters. Chief among these are the Falcon 9 rockets, which often act as the company’s workhorse rockets — launching Starlink satellites and various other payloads into orbit around Earth. While Falcon 9 has become so well known for its reusability, what you might not know is just how quickly the company can turn around and relaunch a booster after it has just been used in another mission. Surprisingly, that turnaround time is under two weeks.
Now, the important thing to note here is that this isn’t typically a big deal. SpaceX has multiple Falcon 9 boosters, so it doesn’t often have to rush to turn one around for a second launch within a short amount of time, even with all the launches it does each year. However, that hasn’t stopped the Musk-led company from setting some major records with its rocket boosters.
While it can be difficult to pin down an average turnaround time based on information found online, reports have managed to figure out that the two best records have been 13 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 20 seconds for one, and just nine days between launches of one booster for the quickest turnaround.
The record holding booster
The fastest record holder, which saw a booster launch two different missions within a span of nine days, began its record-breaking stint with the launch of NASA’s SPHEREx and Punch satellites back on March 12, 2025. According to reports, the first stage booster used in this launch was tail number B1088. Then, on March 21, 2025, SpaceX shared on X that a Falcon 9 mission had launched, marking the second mission that the first stage booster had completed in just nine days.
Reports from Spaceflight Now further corroborate these tweets, noting that the booster used in that second mission was the same B1088 as the SPHEREx launch. Exactly how much faster SpaceX might be able to turn a booster around is unclear, and there likely won’t be any details on what to expect until the company shares that it has broken the record again. What is known is that in 2017, SpaceX was trying to relaunch a rocket within 24 hours of its last landing, though whether it will ever meet this goal with the Falcon 9 remains to be seen.
However, since Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, has always had some bold plans about what he wanted to accomplish with the space-focused company — like his goal of building a city on the moon – it isn’t wholly unbelievable to think SpaceX will might one day see a record like that.
