SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 28 Starlink satellites on its 29th-ever liftoff

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched for the 29th time on Tuesday (Oct. 7), one shy of the company’s reuse record.

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 28 of the company’s Starlink satellites lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Tuesday at 11:54 p.m. EDT (0354 GMT; 8:54 p.m. local California time).

The rocket’s first stage returned to Earth as planned, touching down about 8.5 minutes after liftoff in the Pacific Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You.”

It was the 29th launch and landing for this particular booster, which is designated B1071. The record holder, Booster 1067, launched for the 30th time in late August.

Meanwhile, the Falcon 9’s upper stage continued carrying the 28 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO) today. They were deployed on schedule about 60 minutes after launch.

Tuesday’s launch was the 127th Falcon 9 flight of the year so far. More than 70% of these missions have been dedicated to building out the Starlink network, by far the largest satellite constellation ever assembled.

There are currently more than 8,500 operational Starlink satellites circling Earth, and more are going up all the time.