Falcon 9 B1060 was a Falcon 9 first-stage booster manufactured and operated by SpaceX. It was the senior active booster vehicle for the company since the demise of B1058 on 25 December 2023 during transit back to shore. As of 24 March 2024, it had flown 20 missions and landed 19 times. It was intentionally expended on 28 April 2024 when it launched the Galileo FOC FM25 & FM27 satellites for the European Space Agency as the mission performance requirements necessitated the first stage to burn to depletion on ascent.
Falcon 9 B1060
B1060 launching from SLC-40 during its 12th mission, while Ax-1 and Artemis 1 are on adjacent pads
B1060 landing back at LZ-1 during its 8th mission
B1060 landing back at LZ-1 during its 15th mission
A booster is a rocket used either in the first stage of a multistage launch vehicle or in parallel with longer-burning sustainer rockets to augment the space vehicle's takeoff thrust and payload capability. Boosters are traditionally necessary to launch spacecraft into low Earth orbit, and are especially important for a space vehicle to go beyond Earth orbit. The booster is dropped to fall back to Earth once its fuel is expended, a point known as booster engine cut-off (BECO).
A GEM-40 strap-on booster for a Delta II launch vehicle.