Update Aug. 18, 2:36 p.m. EDT: SpaceX confirmed deployment of its 24 Starlink satellites.
SpaceX launched its 100th Falcon 9 rocket of the year Monday morning. The flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base carried another batch of Starlink optimized V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit.
The Starlink 17-5 mission was also be the 72nd SpaceX launch of Starlink satellites so far in 2025. It brings the total number of Starlink satellites orbited in 2025 to 1,786.
Liftoff from Vandenberg’s pad 4E happened at 9:26 a.m. PDT (12:26 p.m. EDT / 1626 UTC) with the rocket flying on a southerly trajectory.
SpaceX used the Falcon 9 first stage booster 1088 to launch this mission, which marked its ninth trip to space. Its previous missions include NROL-126, NROL-57 and NASA’s SPHEREx/PUNCH ride share mission.
Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1088 landed on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ completing the 145th booster landing on this vessel and the 489th booster landing to date.
Deployment of the 24 satellites happened a little more than an hour into flight. A deorbit burn disposed of the rocket’s second stage in the Pacific Ocean, east of New Zealand.
Ramping up launch rate
The Monday morning flight was a notable milestone for SpaceX. It was just the second time in the company’s history that it achieved 100 launches in one calendar year, a feat so far unmatched by an other American space company.
“Falcon Launch #100 of 2025. For reference on the increase in launch rate from last year, we hit 100 on Oct. 20th in 2024,” said Kiko Dontchev, SpaceX Vice President of Launch said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Among the 72 Starlink missions SpaceX launched so far this year, 26 flew from the West Coast. SpaceX has big ambitions for ratcheting up the number of flights it can accomplish from California.
It has submitted plans for approval that would see up to 95 launches annually from Vandenberg between its current pad at SLC-4E and its proposed pad at SLC-6. The latter would also be capable of hosting up to five Falcon Heavy launches and would feature two landing pads.
That project is still going through regulatory approval and hasn’t been green lit as of yet.
