SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on new Falcon 9 rocket from California

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The maiden launch of Booster 1100 lifted off at 3:48 a.m. EST on Sunday (Nov. 23).

a stacked series of small satellites are seen ready to be deployed into low earth orbit.
A stack of 28 Starlink satellites are seen in low Earth orbit, ready to be deployed, after launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX introduced a new Falcon 9 rocket into its fleet on Sunday (Nov. 23), with he launch of 28 satellites for its Starlink megaconstellation in low Earth orbit.

The launch, from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, took place on Sunday at 3:48 a.m. EST (0848 GMT or 12:48 a.m. PST local time). The Starlink satellites were successfully deployed one hour and 19 minutes into the flight.

a white and black rocket lifts off into the night sky, its engine plume glowing orange-white lights its launch pad.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink satellites launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

In the interim, the Falcon 9's first stage, Booster 1100 (B1100) made its first touchdown on a drone ship, "Of Course I Still Love You," stationed in the Pacific Ocean. The landing occurred about eight and a half minutes after the rocket's launch, according to a page about the flight on the SpaceX website.

The Starlink satellites (Group 11-30) added to the more than 9,000 units that comprise the commercial broadband internet network.

Sunday's launch was the second Starlink mission in as many days, following a flight from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Saturday. That liftoff had been SpaceX's 150th Falcon 9 launch of the year.

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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