SpaceX launches 60th mission of the year from California

SpaceX has now launched 60 missions from California this year.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Tuesday (Dec. 2) from Vandenberg Space Force Base on the Golden State’s central coast at 12:28 a.m. EST (0528 GMT; 9:28 p.m. local California time on Dec. 1).

The Falcon 9 carried 27 of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit, where they will join more than 9,000 other spacecraft in the huge and ever-growing broadband megaconstellation.

The rocket’s first stage came back to Earth as planned, touching down on the SpaceX droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” about 8.5 minutes after liftoff. It was the 20th mission for this particular booster, which is designated B1081.

The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, deployed the 27 Starlink satellites about 62 minutes after launch.

Tuesday’s liftoff was SpaceX’s 60th of the year from Vandenberg, according to SpaceflightNow. That’s impressive, but the company’s East Coast operations are even more prolific: Ninety-four Falcon 9 missions have lifted off so far in 2025 from Florida’s Space Coast. (SpaceX flies out of pads at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, which are next door to each other).

The company has also launched five suborbital test flights of its Starship megarocket so far this year. All of these missions have lifted off from Starbase, the company’s site in South Texas.