SpaceX launched one other batch of its Starlink web satellites to orbit from California on Monday evening (Might 12), on the primary leg of a spaceflight doubleheader.
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 26 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on California’s central coast Monday at 9:15 p.m. EDT (6:15 p.m. native California time; 0115 GMT on Might 13).
The rocket’s first stage got here again to Earth for a touchdown about 8 minutes later as deliberate, touching down on the drone ship “Of Course I Nonetheless Love You” within the Pacific Ocean.
It was the sixth flight for this explicit booster, in line with a SpaceX mission description.
The Falcon 9’s higher stage continued carrying the 26 Starlink satellites towards low Earth orbit (LEO), the place they had been deployed on schedule about 65 minutes after launch.
Monday evening’s launch was the 56th Falcon 9 mission of 2025. Thirty-nine of these flights have been dedicated to constructing the Starlink megaconstellation, by far the most important spacecraft community ever assembled.
These launch numbers modified once more just some hours after this mission went within the books: SpaceX launched one other Starlink mission, this one from Florida’s Area Coast, early Tuesday morning (Might 13).