Update June 4, 8:00 p.m. EDT: SpaceX landed on the droneship.
SpaceX was back at the launch pad for a midweek flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Starlink 11-22 mission marked the company’s 500th orbital launch of a Falcon rocket, including Falcon 1, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.
Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East occurred at 4:40 p.m. PDT (7:40 p.m. EDT, 2340 UTC) on Wednesday, which also happens to be the 15th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 rocket launch.
SpaceX’s year so far has been highlighted once again by missions supporting its Starlink constellation. This was its 50th such launch in 2025.
The Wednesday mission was also the 26th flight for Falcon 9 first stage booster tail number B1063. It previously launched a trio of missions for the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA’s DART spacecraft and 17 batches of Starlink satellites.
A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, B1063 landed on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’ This completed the 134th landing on this vessel and the 457th booster landing to date.
