The Falcon 9’s first stage, a vehicle known as Booster 1085, came back to Earth nearly nine minutes later as planned, touching down in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX<\/a> droneship “A Shortfall of Gravitas.” It was the 14th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a company mission description<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below <\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n \n The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rests on the deck of a drone ship after launching the EchoStar XXV TV satellite from Florida on March 10, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX)<\/p>\n Previous Booster 1085 missions<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying EchoStar XXV to distant geosynchronous transfer orbit, where the satellite was deployed<\/a> on schedule 35 minutes after liftoff.<\/p>\n EchoStar XXV will make its own way to geostationary orbit,<\/a> a circular path 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above Earth. After a series of checkouts, the satellite will start beaming TV signals down for customers of the Dish Network, a subsidiary of Colorado-based EchoStar.<\/p>\n Tuesday’s launch was a relative rarity for SpaceX these days \u2014 a mission that wasn’t devoted to building out the company’s giant Starlink<\/a> broadband megaconstellation. Twenty-four of SpaceX’s 30 orbital launches in 2026 have been Starlink missions.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2c2hJofqN9gMJqWPVM9iKE.jpg\")
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