A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Sunday night carrying 23 Starlink satellites, including 13 capable of direct to cell phone service.
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 came at 10:09 p.m. EDT (0209 UTC). It was SpaceX’s 48th Falcon 9 launch of 2025.
The Falcon 9 first stage booster being used on this mission, tail number B1077 in the SpaceX fleet, was flying for a 20th time. Its previous missions include 12 batches of Starlink satellites, three flights to the International Space Station and the GPS 3 Space Vehicle 06.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1077 touched down on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ positioned in the Atlantic Ocean, east of The Bahamas. It was the 117th booster landing on JRTI and the 438th booster landing to date.
Deployment of the 23 Starlink satellites was confirmed by SpaceX a little over an hour after liftoff.
SpaceX was planning to launch another Falcon 9 rocket Sunday night on the Starlink 11-9 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base but delayed that launch to Monday.
