Space Force says it will fly on a used Falcon 9 rocket for the first time - Ars Technica

On Friday, the US Space Force said it would launch two critical Global Positioning System missions on a used Falcon 9 rocket next year.

Doing so will save the military $52 million, officials said, as SpaceX agreed to lower compensation for the two missions in return for flying used hardware.

Now, the Space Force and SpaceX have agreed to contract modifications that will allow for the launch of two more GPS III missions (05 and 06) on reused Falcon 9 first stage rockets.

Because of this change, SpaceX was able to recover the Falcon 9 first stage flown on a GPS mission in June, and the company will recover the booster on future GPS missions.

As part of these missions, the Space Force plans to better understand the functional lifetime of a Falcon 9 booster to further enable reuse of rockets in the future.

SpaceX, which is now eligible to bid used Falcon rockets on future Space Force missions, welcomed the US government's accommodation.

“SpaceX is proud to leverage Falcon 9’s flight-proven benefits and capabilities for national security space launch missions,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, in a statement.