SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida

Twenty-eight more Starlink satellites are now in Earth orbit after launching from Florida on Tuesday night (July 29).

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 11:37 p.m. EDT (0337 GMT on July 30) rom Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. After a nine minute climb into space, the 28 Starlink broadband internet satellites (group 10-29) were on track to be deployed into their intended orbit.

a rocket's first stage fires one of its engines to land on an ocean-based droneship, its four landing legs deployed — The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lands atop an ocean-based droneship in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, July 29, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

Booster 1069 missions

CRS-24 | Eutelsat HOTBIRD 13F | OneWeb 1 | SES-18 and SES-19 | 22 Starlink missions

The launch marked the 26th flight of the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage (B1069), which made it safely back to a landing on the droneship "Just Read the Instructions," which was positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.

The 28 satellites added to SpaceX's low Earth orbit megaconstellation, which now totals more than 8,050 active units (out of the over 9,300 launched since 2018), according to satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell.

The launch was SpaceX's 99th mission of the year, of which all but three were on Falcon 9 rockets. The company plans two more liftoffs this week: another Starlink mission on Wednesday (July 30) from California and the launch of the Crew-11 astronauts to the International Space Station on Thursday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

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.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.