SpaceX notched one other huge reusability milestone on Friday (Sept. 5).
The firm based by billionaire Elon Musk launched 28 of its Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off Friday at 8:32 a.m. EDT (1232 GMT) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The rocket’s first stage got here again to Earth as deliberate, touching down about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the SpaceX drone ship “Just Read the Instructions.” It was the 27th touchdown for this particular booster and the company’s 500th successful recovery of an orbital-class rocket overall, according to SpaceX. (SpaceX has two operational orbital-class rockets in the meanwhile — the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy.)
The Falcon 9’s preliminary ascent was accomplished in underneath 9 minutes, adopted by a couple of 45-minute coast. The Starlink satellites (often known as Group 10-57) are scheduled to be deployed from the Falcon 9’s second stage one hour and 4 minutes after the launch.
The Starlink megaconstellation now numbers greater than 8,370 lively satellites.
Today’s launch was SpaceX’s 111th Falcon 9 mission of 2025, out of a complete of 529 since 2010.