SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from California today (May 16).
A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 26 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, on the Golden State’s foggy central coast, today at 9:43 a.m. EDT (1343 GMT; 6:43 a.m. local California time).
A little over eight minutes later, the Falcon 9’s first stage came back to Earth as planned, touching down on the SpaceX drone ship “Of Course I Still Love You,” which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.
It was the second liftoff and landing for this particular booster, according to SpaceX. The stage’s other mission was also a Starlink flight.
The Falcon 9’s upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 26 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit (LEO), where they were deployed on schedule 62.5 minutes after liftoff.
Today’s launch was the 59th Falcon 9 flight of 2025. Forty-two of those missions have been dedicated to assembling the Starlink network, the largest satellite constellation ever constructed.
There are nearly 7,500 operational Starlink craft in LEO at the moment, according to astrophysicist and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, and the number is growing all the time.