SpaceX launches Starlink satellites, lands Falcon rocket for 500th time (video)

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Liftoff occurred at 8:32 a.m. EDT on Friday (Sept. 5).

SpaceX notched another big reusability milestone on Friday (Sept. 5).

The company founded by billionaire Elon Musk launched 28 of its Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket, which lifted off Friday at 8:32 a.m. EDT (1232 GMT) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The rocket's first stage came back to Earth as planned, touching down about 8.5 minutes after liftoff on the SpaceX drone ship "Just Read the Instructions." It was the 27th touchdown for this particular booster and the company's 500th successful recovery of an orbital-class rocket overall, according to SpaceX. (SpaceX has two operational orbital-class rockets at the moment — the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy.)

the first stage of a rocket stands on its four deployed legs atop a sea-based droneship after returning from a launch into space

The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stands on its four deployed legs atop the droneship "Just Read the Instructions," after launching 28 Starlink satellites on Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)
Booster 1069 missions

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

The Falcon 9's initial ascent was completed in under nine minutes, followed by about a 45-minute coast. The Starlink satellites (known as Group 10-57) are scheduled to be deployed from the Falcon 9's second stage one hour and 4 minutes after the launch.

The Starlink megaconstellation now numbers more than 8,370 active satellites.

Today's launch was SpaceX's 111th Falcon 9 mission of 2025, out of a total of 529 since 2010.

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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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