SpaceX launches its record-breaking 139th mission of the year (video)

SpaceX launched its record-setting 139th mission of the year today (Oct. 23).

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 GMT on Oct. 24), lofting the second and final satellite for the Spainsat Next Generation (NG) constellation.

The two Spainsat NG spacecraft will provide “military-grade secure communications to the Spanish Armed Forces and its partners,” according to SatNews.

SpaceX also launched the first Spainsat NG satellite, which lifted off atop a Falcon 9 this past January.

If all goes to plan today, the Falcon 9’s upper stage will deploy the Spainsat NG-2 satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit about 36 minutes after liftoff.

The rocket’s first stage, meanwhile, did not come back to Earth for a safe touchdown today — a rarity these days for Falcon 9 missions. The booster was in expendable mode “due to the additional performance required to deliver this payload to orbit,” SpaceX wrote in a mission description.

This mission was the 22nd for this booster, the company added.

Today’s flight was the 139th of 2025 for SpaceX, setting a new mark for the company. SpaceX has now launched 134 Falcon 9 missions this year — also a record — and five suborbital test flights of its Starship megarocket.

In 2024, SpaceX performed 132 Falcon 9 flights, four Starship test launches and two liftoffs of its powerful Falcon Heavy rocket.

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 9:45 p.m. ET on Oct. 23 with news of successful launch.