It was the 137th Falcon 9 launch of the year for SpaceX.

paceX launched yet another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites today (Oct. 27).

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 28 Starlink craft lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 8:43 p.m. EDT (5:43 p.m. local California time; 0043 GMT on Oct. 28).

The rocket's first stage came back to Earth as planned about 8.5 minutes later, landing in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You." It was the 17th flight for this particular booster, which carries the designation 1082.

 

The rocket's upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the 28 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO), where they will be deployed about an hour after launch.

Today's launch was the 137th Falcon 9 mission of the year and the third in the last three days. Ninety-eight of those flights have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation, by far the largest satellite network ever assembled.

SpaceX has launched more than 10,000 Starlink spacecraft to date, and nearly 8,750 of them remain active in LEO. The megaconstellation will get considerably bigger, however, adding perhaps another 30,000 satellites or so over the coming years.

SpaceX extends its single-year launch record with every liftoff these days. The company's previous mark for orbital launches was 134, set in 2024.

Quelle: SC

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SpaceX breaks its California pad turnaround record with sunset Starlink launch

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Starlink 11-21 mission on Oct. 27, 2025. Image: SpaceX

Update Oct. 27, 9:50 p.m. EDT (0150 UTC): SpaceX confirms deployment of the 28 Starlink satellites.

SpaceX continued its rapid pace of launches Monday with the flight of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The Starlink 11-21 mission added another 28 more of the V2 Mini iteration of the satellites into low Earth orbit. The flight broke the record for the fastest pad turnaround for SpaceX’s West Coast launch pad, which came just under 55 hours since the Starlink 11-12 mission on Saturday. The company has already set turnaround records this month on both coasts.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 5:43 p.m. PDT (8:43 p.m. EDT / 0043 UTC).

SpaceX used the Falcon 9 booster with the tail number B1082 to launch this mission. This was its 17th flight following USSF-62, NROL-145, OneWeb Launch 20 and 13 batches of Starlink satellites.

Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, B1082 targeted an autonomous landing on the drone ship ‘Of Course I Still Love You’. This was the 161st touch down on this vessel and the 525th booster landing to date. It was also the 98th missions supporting SpaceX’s Starlink constellation this year.

Quelle: SN