Photos: Falcon takes flight

The 21 satellites from York Space Systems are the first in the SDA’s Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellite constellation. SpaceX launched from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:12 a.m. PDT (10:12 a.m. EDT / 1412 UTC).

Boeing engineers in New Mexico are readying a Starliner spacecraft for a critical pad abort test this fall to demonstrate the capsule’s ability to escape an emergency on the launch pad before green-lighting the capsule to carry astronauts.

This was the 98th launch of Starlink satellites in 2025. SpaceX executed liftoff of the Starlink 11-21 mission from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 5:43 p.m. PDT (8:43 p.m. EDT / 0043 UTC).