SpaceX rocket sets reuse record on 500th Falcon 9 launch

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Liftoff occurred at 2:28 a.m. EDT on Wednesday (July 2).

a white and black rocket rides a pillar of orange, blue and white flame off its launch pad into the night sky.
SpaceX's 500th Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with 27 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX conducted its 500th Falcon 9 rocket launch early this morning (July 2) and broke its own reuse record in the process.

The milestone mission lifted off with 27 Starlink satellites at 2:28 a.m. EDT (0628 GMT) today from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

the first stage of a rocket touches down as its engine fires a bright orange flame on a sea-based droneship at night

SpaceX's 500th Falcon 9 launch included another milestone: the 29th reuse of this particular rocket's first stage, three more than any other booster in the fleet, on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

On the way to orbit, the Falcon 9's most-flown first stage, Booster 1067, separated from its upper stage and flew back to a landing on the drone ship "A Shortfall of Gravitas" in the Atlantic Ocean. It was the 29th successful recovery for this stage, three more than any other in SpaceX's fleet.

It was the 472nd Falcon 9 first stage landing since December 2015, and the 439th reuse of a SpaceX rocket.

The 27 satellites (Group 10-25) added to the more than 7,900 active Starlink relays in low Earth orbit. The Starlink megaconstellation — the largest in history — provides broadband internet access and limited direct-to-cell service in remote areas around the world.

SpaceX launched its first Falcon 9 rocket on June 4, 2010. Since then, the vehicle has gone through five major revisions, leading to the current Block 5 model that is used to launch satellites, robotic planetary missions and astronauts. The most-launched U.S. rocket in history, of its 500 missions, all but five all but five have been fully successful.

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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