SpaceX launches Starlink satellites, lands Falcon rocket for 500th time (video)

SpaceX notched another big reusability milestone on Friday (Sept. 5).

The company founded by billionaire Elon Musk launched 28 of its Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off Friday at 8:32 a.m. EDT (1232 GMT) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The rocket’s first stage came back to Earth as planned, touching down about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the SpaceX drone ship “Just Read the Instructions.” It was the 27th touchdown for this particular booster and the company’s 500th successful recovery of an orbital-class rocket overall, according to SpaceX. (SpaceX has two operational orbital-class rockets at the moment — the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy.)

The Falcon 9’s initial ascent was completed in under nine minutes, followed by about a 45-minute coast. The Starlink satellites (known as Group 10-57) are scheduled to be deployed from the Falcon 9’s second stage one hour and 4 minutes after the launch.

The Starlink megaconstellation now numbers more than 8,370 active satellites.

Today’s launch was SpaceX‘s 111th Falcon 9 mission of 2025, out of a total of 529 since 2010.