Image #231228

SpaceX has pioneered significant savings by recovering and reusing the payload fairings, two large clamshell structures that protect the payload during the atmospheric portion of flight and are then jettisoned. The fairing halves parachute gently to the ocean where they are recovered by a SpaceX ship and then brought back to port for refurbishment and reuse. The images below from Port Canaveral show the off-loading from the SpaceX recovery ship “Bob” of the two payload fairing halves used on the Starlink 6-32 mission.