SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites to orbit from Florida

SpaceX launched 29 more of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit today (Oct. 29), sending them up from Florida's Space Coast.

A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station today at 12:35 a.m. EDT (1635 GMT).

The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth as planned about 8.5 minutes later, pulling off a pinpoint touchdown in the Atlantic Ocean on the SpaceX drone ship "Just Read the Instructions."

It was the 15th flight for this particular booster, which carries the designation 1082, and some of its previous missions were pretty high-profile. For example, this same first stage also launched the Crew-8 astronaut mission to the International Space Station for NASA and Polaris Dawn, a crewed flight to Earth orbit that featured the first-ever private spacewalk.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued carrying the 29 Starlink satellites toward low Earth orbit today. They'll be deployed there about 64 minutes after launch, if all goes according to plan.

Today's liftoff was the 138th orbital launch of the year for SpaceX, extending the company's cadence record. The previous mark was 134, set in 2024.

Ninety-nine of this year's missions have been devoted to building out the Starlink megaconstellation, which currently consists of more than 8,700 active satellites.