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SpaceX adds 27 Starlink satellites to constellation after successful launch from California (video)

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Liftoff occurred at 3:10 p.m. EDT on Saturday (May 31).

SpaceX's broadband internet constellation grew again today (May 31), with the launch of 27 satellites into Earth orbit.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the additions to the Starlink network lifted off at 1:10 p.m. PDT (4:10 p.m. EDT or 2010 GMT) on Saturday from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Station in southern California.

About 8 minutes later, the Falcon's first stage returned to Earth, landing vertically on the ocean-based droneship "Of Course I Still Love You." This was the 25th flight for this booster, including 14 previous Starlink launches, according to SpaceX's website for Saturday's mission.

a white and black rocket lifts off into the fog surrounding its launch pad

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 27 Starlink satellites lifts off into the fog blanketing Vandenberg Space Force Station in California on May 31, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The 27 satellites were on course to be deployed at just under an hour after they left the ground.

According to SpaceX's billionaire founder Elon Musk, the Starlink network is not only a needed solution for people outside the reach of other broadband options, but a key to the company's plans for the future.

"Starlink internet is what is being used to pay for humanity going to Mars," Musk said during a recent update delivered to employees at SpaceX's Starship facility in Starbase, Texas. "I would like to thank everyone out there who has bought Starlink because you are helping to secure the future of civilization and helping make life interplanetary."

a rocket's first stage stands atop a sea-based droneship after landing on its four deployed legs

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is seen standing on a sea-based droneship after launching 27 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit on May 31, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Starlink is now the largest satellite constellation ever launched into Earth orbit. According to satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, there are currently more than 7,600 active Starlink spacecraft out of the nearly 8,790 total units deployed to date.

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Robert Z. Pearlman
Robert Z. Pearlman
collectSPACE.com Editor, Space.com Contributor

Robert Pearlman is a space historian, journalist and the founder and editor of collectSPACE.com, a daily news publication and community devoted to space history with a particular focus on how and where space exploration intersects with pop culture. Pearlman is also a contributing writer for Space.com and co-author of "Space Stations: The Art, Science, and Reality of Working in Space” published by Smithsonian Books in 2018.In 2009, he was inducted into the U.S. Space Camp Hall of Fame in Huntsville, Alabama. In 2021, he was honored by the American Astronautical Society with the Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History. In 2023, the National Space Club Florida Committee recognized Pearlman with the Kolcum News and Communications Award for excellence in telling the space story along the Space Coast and throughout the world.

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