SpaceX launched its 119th Falcon 9 mission of the year today (Sept. 21), sending another batch of its Starlink internet satellites aloft from Florida's Space Coast.
A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 28 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 6:53 a.m. EDT (1053 GMT).
The Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth as planned about 8.5 minutes later, touching down on the SpaceX drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas," which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
It was the 11th flight for this particular booster, which is designated B1085. Among its previous missions were the Crew-9 and Fram2 astronaut flights and Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1, which sent a private robotic lander to the moon.
Meanwhile, the Falcon 9's upper stage continued carrying the 28 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, where they were deployed on time about 64 minutes after launch, according to SpaceX.
Today's launch was the 119th Falcon 9 flight of the year. SpaceX has also conducted four other launches in 2025 — suborbital test flights of Starship, the giant rocket the company is developing to help humanity settle Mars.
The most recent Starship launch — the 10th overall for the vehicle — occurred on Aug. 26 and was a complete success, according to SpaceX.
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