SpaceX to launch 24 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg SFB – Spaceflight Now

SpaceX is making ready to launch its newest batch of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites right into a polar, low Earth orbit on Wednesday.

The Starlink 17-12 mission is the 83rd mission supporting SpaceX’s megaconstellation thus far in 2025. The firm goals to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 8:43 a.m. PDT (11:43 a.m. EDT / 1543 UTC).

Spaceflight Now may have dwell protection starting about half-hour previous to liftoff.



SpaceX will use the Falcon 9 first stage booster, B1088, to launch the mission, which will probably be its tenth flight. Its earlier flights included NASA’s SPHEREx rideshare, the Transporter-12 rideshare and two missions for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Nearly 8.5 minutes after taking off from the California coast, SpaceX plans to land B1088 on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ If profitable, this would be the 152nd touchdown on this vessel and the 506th booster touchdown so far.

So far in 2025, SpaceX has launched greater than 2,000 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. As it continues growth of its Starship rocket, SpaceX plans to begin deploying the considerably bigger Starlink Version 3 satellites starting in 2026.